


Latte Macchiato and a Soldier's Back

by kittencandyuchiha



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, KuroFai Olympics, M/M, Navy, Non-Graphic Violence, Past Character Death, Prostitution, Seattle, Tattoos, Team Sea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 14:36:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20293084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittencandyuchiha/pseuds/kittencandyuchiha
Summary: If you had asked him a year and a half ago if he would ever see himself working two jobs—busting his ass at a 9-5 as a pharmaceutical scientist—only to head to his second job where his manager was none other than his boyfriends kid sister?Well Fai probably would have looked at you like you were possessed before running off to meet one of his swanky ex-clients.His life has always been a bit of a complicated hot mess though—so what could he do?The things you do for love, right?





	1. Chapter 1

Nothing in Fai’s Flourite’s life was ever simple. 

His family, his school, his romantic life… Sometimes, it was easy if he got lucky—but simple?

Ha! 

He was constantly caught in the middle of a hot mess or a shit storm and it had been that way for as long as he could remember. 

He was used to it at this point and had learned to roll with the punches. 

Hakuna matata. No biggie. Don't sweat the small stuff. It gets better. Just keep swimming. It will all be worth it in the end right?

His focus was split between work and school at the moment, which meant he didn’t get to spend any time at home. That in and of itself was a blessing in disguise, even if it left him with a tremendous amount of guilt—he could only do what he could do, though. 

Currently, Fai was trying to hurriedly order his mother's groceries while he walked from west campus to the coffee shop that was just across the street from his flat. He was late to his appointment with his next ‘client’ because he had needed extra time on his exam. 

He only needed extra time because he had stayed up until the early hours of the morning talking with the only person that didn’t actually want anything from him. Fai had fallen asleep in his exam—his professor had taken pity on him and allowed him to stay and finish after waking him up. 

Fai had a habit of falling asleep in class—his professors were well aware of his _situation_. 

Hell—that particular professor has been coming to Fai for close to two years now, so the blond had lucked out that it was his class he had conked out in. Of course… he had had to squeeze him in for a courtesy appointment for that kindness - which meant that he was going to be dead tired for the first day of his internship. 

But when wasn’t he tired? 

Fai paused just before the crosswalk and hit for the crossing light while scrolling through the list of pre-prepared meals—something easy enough for her to make on her bad days… something she might actually want to eat. 

Balancing nutritional food with convenience was never easy but he just didn’t have time to go over there and check on her every day. The caretaker that came in 3 times a week already cost him an arm and a leg and the days she was there, Fai at least knew his mother was getting home cooked meals. 

He was doing his best. 

Junk food was better than no food. 

After he had made the last of his selections he scheduled the delivery for a few hours from now. His downstairs neighbor was kind enough to lend him his car so Fai would be able to make it across town to her small house to get the cold stuff put away before it spoiled. 

He could visit for a few hours, then get home in time to snag a shower and meet his second client tonight for a dinner party at his office. Luckily, he was going to get picked up from his place, so he didn’t have to worry about downtown parking or public transportation. 

If it all worked out, Fai would be home by 2-3 am and could snag at least 5 hours of sleep before his morning class. 

The light changed and Fai hurried across the street and pulled open the glass door of the coffee shop that was really more like a cafe. Their french toast was to die for—but that wasn’t why Fai was here. 

Sitting at one of the far tables, Fai spotted his client glaring down at his phone as he tapped away at the screen furiously. 

Well he knew Ichiro wasn’t a patient man. Fai didn’t mind him as a client—he didn’t want anything too crazy from him and he never fussed when it came to holding up his half of the arrangement. 

He didn’t want to lose him as a client. A grumpy client who paid on time without a hassle was better than the alternative and he had finally gotten his book full enough that he was keeping his head above water and paying off some of the massive amounts of debt that followed him around. 

Fai slipped on a meek smile and kept his eyes downcast as he wove between the tables and slipped into the open seat. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting. My exam ran over.” 

“It’s fine. School should come first, after all.” He tucked his phone in his back pocket and though he looked annoyed—Fai was sure he wasn’t angry. 

Ichiro had been one of his very first regulars and Fai had a tendency to make him angry. The reason the dark haired man came to Fai was as little on the unusual side, so he tried not to think too hard about it when they were together—but it meant that Fai could pull the school card and all was forgiven. 

“Since I was late, did you want to just… head to my place?” The sooner he finished this appointment, the more time he would have to deal with traffic and get back home for the next. 

“That’s fine—how was school?” 

Fai was good at chattering and small talk and that really helped smooth the awkwardness of what they were here to do. 

Each of his clients came to him for something different. Ichiro was good looking and was actually happily married. He came to Fai because he just so happened to resemble the man’s late son—creepy, right?—but honestly, it was not as strange as you would guess. 

Most of the time, anyways. 

They were going to go back to his apartment—Fai was going to do his homework and Ichiro was either going to order them take out or cook them something simple. 

They met twice a month, depending on their schedules and 90% of the time if was just to hang out. The other 10% wasn’t terrible, either—but Fai was hoping that wasn't what the older man was looking for this afternoon. 

Fai would chatter away about classes, school and even about his friends, because that is what his client wanted. If he needed something more, Fai could accommodate—but his mood was nowhere near as poor as it usually was when he asked for that. 

Fa’s apartment was technically behind the coffee house—but it was on the other side of the street from the back of the building. He had a small one bedroom rented on the top floor of an old house that had been converted into apartments.

Even 450sq feet just outside of the U-district was expensive—but such was life in Seattle. 

Fai loved his little piece of independence even though his personal space too often doubled as a work space for him, as well. 

They climbed the three flights of stairs and Fai fished out his keys and quickly unlocked the two deadbolts as well as the door itself and they were greeted with a sorta clean apartment. 

Fai enjoyed organized chaos—he liked his spaces loud and colorful. 

The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with bookshelves shoved full of his favorite books, nic nacs and picture frames. What little wall space was open he had tacked doodles, drawings, lyrics and posters onto. The entire ceiling was covered in sentimental art, movie posters and polaroid photos he had collected over the ears. 

While Fai thought the lovely original hardwood floors of the attic were pretty—they were not comfortable. And so, the floor had over the two years he had lived here slowly become a patchwork of plush rugs of different textures and sizes. All of which had been acquired while thrifting, none of which matched and had been chosen for the sole purpose that they had felt nice. Some even had interesting patterns—though most were utterly atrocious.

You could still admire the wood floors in the kitchen and bathroom, which was really the best of both worlds in Fai’s mind. 

The kitchen was small, but he made it work. The cupboards and cabinets were also covered—but not with photos or drawings. They were made up of white particle board and had been the only modern thing about the place when he had rented it. 

They didn’t jive well with him or his style, so he had found some gaudy wallpaper an amazon and last summer, he had spent hours measuring, cutting, and glueing glittery paper to make them more him while mentally kissing his security deposit goodbye. 

The counters he had had to live with—but he covered how ugly they were with stuff. Mostly kitchen stuff, but also school papers, crafting supplies and things he hadn’t exactly found a place for, yet. 

Ichiro had always liked Fai’s flat—and he was respectful of the space. Never complained about the clutter or style of it, so he didn’t mind seeing him here. This place was cheap for a reason, though—no overhead lighting and only one small window that sat right over Fai’s bed and was so caked with dirt on the outside that there was very little light that made it through. 

That light was blocked out by the photos he had taped over the inside of the glass as well as by the stuffed animals he had crammed up onto the ledge. 

His client waited just outside the door for Fai to plug in his incense diffuser as well as the multi colored christmas lights that served as his main source of lighting before following him in. Good move because while there was no trash on the floor, there was usually pillows that had fallen off the bed to serve as a tripping hazard if you were not looking for them. 

Since Fai had been up late, he had not been able to pull himself out of bed early enough to really straighten the place up. It only took Fai half a minute to toss his school bag onto the foot of the bed and toss the majority of the pillows up as well before jumping on the bed, himself, to allow Ichiro inside. 

He took his shoes off without being asked and headed straight for the kitchen. It looked like this was going to be one of their relaxing appointments. 

Fai really tried to do what his clients wanted him to do without being asked. With Ichiro, it had taken a while to get what it was he had wanted from him—but he snuggled up into the bed and pulled out his laptop to get started on some school work. 

His client knew what went where in the kitchen and started pulling out this or that to get started on a simple meal for them while he asked about Fai’s day. Which he told him about minus anything that might seem stressful or bad in any way. 

Ichiro liked to hear about his classes, his classmates, his assignments—hell, he even liked to hear about the people Fai dated—but not problems with other clients, his family or anything that broke the fantasy. 

He had school work he could actually do, sure—but Fai chose instead to go onto facebook and check and see if he had gotten any messages from Kuro. 

His name was actually Kurogane—and Fai had asked Tomoyo a thousand times how to pronounce it—but the man's full name always sounded… wrong, when he said it. 

There was nothing more rude than saying someone's name wrong. 

Nicknames were ok, though. 

It’s not like Fai actually had to ever say his name, anyways—just type it since aside from a single phone conversation, Fai hadn’t actually spoken to the man. He messaged him every day, though, and Kuro had become one of the few things in his life that let him keep his sanity. 

Fai had meet—er—well gotten to know Kurogane through his little sister Tomoyo. She worked at the cafe that was in front of his apartment and since he was there up to 3 times a day between needing caffeine and meeting clients—they had become quick friends. 

While she was much younger than Fai, she was very smart and easy to get along with. He liked to listen to her gush about her friends as well as show him pictures of all the outfits she had made and forced her very best friend to model for her. 

Somewhere around 5 months ago, Fai had been heading over to The Cat’s Eye to get a coffee before they closed for the night when he had seen her waiting just up the street for the metro. That in and of itself wasn’t something he would pay much attention to—but even from over a block away, he could see that her posture was defensive. 

She had not been alone. 

There were two men chatting her up and Fai had wasted no time in stepping in and telling them they could kindly fuck off. The poor dear had been on the verge of tears and shaking when he had intervened and Fai couldn’t leave her like that. 

She had gladly accepted his offer to give her a ride home—and Fai had borrowed his neighbors car and made the drive to her best friend’s house. Now Fai had learned through previous conversations with her that she was staying with her friend while her brother was away. He was on the navy - thankfully he was smart enough not to leave her home all alone. 

He had walked her up to the house and explained what had happened to the only adult that had been home at the time—her friend Sakura’s older brother—and he had promised Fai that he would start picking her up after work. 

The area Fai lived in wasn’t particularly dangerous—but like with any other major city in the US—it just wasn’t a good idea for a tiny 16 year old girl to be wandering about at night alone. 

I had been the right thing to do, so Fai had not been expecting to get a call not even 3 hours later from her brother. 

Kurogane had introduced himself gruffly—Fai had been as equally terrified by his stern tone as he was captivated by it. He had not expected to be thanked profusely by the man—not that he was complaining. 

Kurogane had followed the call up with as an equally gruff, yet somehow slightly sweet text from him letting Fai know that he would seriously appreciate it if the blond could continue to look out for his “baby sis.” 

It had melted Fai’s heart. 

While Fai had never had a little sister—but he _had _had a little brother and he understood that fierce feeling of protectiveness. 

Fai had texted back letting him know that he would do just that and somehow, the conversation had just gone on from there. Since Kuro was in the navy, he didn’t really have phone service all that often, but he would get Fai’s text messages, pictures and updates when he caught signal and usually responded to them right away. 

Kuro would tell Fai about his job, about the men he worked with and the overall monotony of his day—Fai would tell him about school, his mother and Tomoyo. Somehow, this man he had never met—hell, didn’t even know what he looked like, had become his closest friend and confidant. 

Fai honestly didn’t know what he would do without him. 

Ichiro wouldn’t have minded hearing about Kuro since he wasn’t one of Fai’s clients and didn’t break the surrogate son fantasy. But Fai had no interest in sharing something so precious with a client and was careful not to smile at the picture of a sunset that Kuro had sent him and shot back a quick response. 

Fai >> Hwaaaaaa~ So pretty~~ 

He did not expect such a quick response from the man, not that he was complaining. He must be docked somewhere with phone signal, which was always a plus. Fai almost wished he didn’t have so much to do tonight since it was such a rare thing for them to be able to message in real time together. 

Kurogane >> Yep. That’s why I sent it to you. 

That Fai cracked a smile at. Such a grumpy pants. Ichiro raised an eyebrow at him and Fai tried to look busy so he didn’t rouse too much suspicion 

Fai >> The sunset here is not so pretty :p too many big buildings… 

Fai pulled up the login screen for the online portions of his classes and figured if his client felt like ‘helping’ with his homework he should probably have it up and ready to go. Not even a minute later, the tab at the top of his screen was flashing with another notification from Kuro and Fai clicked it right away. 

Kurogane >> These buildings? 

Fai got another picture of a sunset. Well, the wrong end of a sunset. You couldn’t see the sun but you could see a very distinct skyline with pinkening clouds behind tall buildings. Fai felt his heart jump into his chest as he looked long and hard at the building and it didn’t take long to start picking out distinct buildings in that skyline. 

Most noticable the Space needle, which meant that he could also see Columbia center, the Safeco plaza and the Smith Tower. 

Fai >> You didn’t tell me you were coming back home?!?!?!?!?! Kuro is so mean keeping secrets!! Does Tomo know? 

So Fai knew he would be coming back eventually—he was only supposed to be gone for 6 months, after all. Tomoyo had been complaining recently about Kurogane not telling her when he was going to be back—but for whatever reason, Fai was almost giddy with excitement now. 

Kurogane >> Nope. I’ll be heading back to the house tonight. 

Kurogane >> Gonna dust and shit. Stock the groceries and make it nice for her before I surprise her at work tomorrow. 

Kurogane >> Wanted to ask you to stall her for me? 

Fai was tempted to audibly coo in affection after reading that.Ughhhh. It wasn’t fair that he was just so utterly adorable all the damn time. Seriously. He was going to be the death of Fai. 

Fai >> Of course!!! 

Fai >> why are you such an amazing big brother?!?!?! 

Fai >> She is going to be over the moooooon! 

He caught himself grinning too late and Ichiro was already glancing over his shoulder reading the conversation. Fai kept his cool—he didn’t want to make a big deal about it. 

“Who’s that?” Ichiro placed a hand on his shoulder and Fai did a hell of a job of not cringing when the man smelled his hair very audibly. 

Fai set his computer aside and turned to face his client with an innocent smile. “Just a friend’s big brother. He’s going to surprise her tomorrow. She has no idea he got home. How sweet!” Fai held his arms wide and Ichiro stepped into his almost childish embrace. 

The blond’s cheek rested against the center of his chest and he didn’t have to hide his annoyed expression as his client ran nimble fingers through his hair—pulling his ponytail loose. 

It irked him that his client always did that to him. If he wanted his hair loose he would wear it that way… It still didn’t annoy him anywhere near as much as knowing that he was going to be busy the entire night when Kuro was finally able to talk to him. 

He would have to deal, though. He needed the money—especially with finals approaching and a new round of classes to pay for in the next few weeks. 


	2. Chapter 2

Fai was bubbling with excitement. He had rescheduled his appointments for tonight and was currently trying not to seem too obvious with his stalling. Tomoyo knew something was up but his lips were zipped about why he was buzzing with energy. 

He had bought her a coffee and was listening to her talk about her best friend’s boy troubles. While Fai normally lived for her gossip—he was very veeeery distracted by Kuro’s last text. 

He was on his way and Fai was finally going to get to meet him. Fai was pretty much hopelessly infatuated with the man at this point and Kuro knew more about him than anyone else. Fai had no idea how open Kuro had been with him about his own life—but he shared his worries about his baby sis. 

He had explained to Fai what had happened to their parents—that their mother had passed away shortly after giving birth to little Tomoyo—that their father had only passed a few years ago of lung cancer and that Kurogane had adopted his sister and joined the navy to ensure he could support her properly. 

Fai kept Kuro in the loop about his mother—about how she had never been the same after his younger brother had passed in a drowning accident when Fai had been 13—how she’s struggled with depression and addiction since and basically needed full time care. 

Kuro had understood because he had taken care of his father as the cancer slowly took him and knew how hard that was—and Kuro had made a point of letting Fai know that he thought he was a ‘hell of a fighter’ after losing his little brother and stepping up for his mom. 

Fai let Kuro know that he was the biggest badass he had ever met-not met for being such a killer brother and doing the same for his dad before he passed… 

They had had a lot of really deep conversations of the past months and Fai had shared things he never thought he would be able to talk about. Kuro had met his confessions without judgement and showed compassion and understanding and Fai was basically madly in love with him. 

Which kinda sucked because while he knew Kuro was single—he had an ex girlfriend that still sent him needy ass text messages—so he obviously didn’t swing this way… 

It wasn’t the end of the world, of course. Fai had always put more effort into his platonic relationships than his romantic ones. 

Not that he had had many romantic relationships. Not a single serious one in all his 22 years of life—just a few kiss and cuddle type thingies in middle school and highschool. He had picked up his current gig a few weeks after graduating highschool and his job made having a traditional partner impossible. 

Fai needed the money more than he needed the romance. Somehow, he had managed to sepreate sex and attraction from love? Fai did not love his clients—in fact, he strongly disliked more than half of them when it came to their personality. 

Fai didn’t have to take clients he didn’t find physically attractive—he had a nice enough physique himself that he pretty much got first pick. Hell—he had a waiting list and he would pick and choose based on what the client wanted from him, their schedule, and if he could stand them in general. Obviously, he had to be able to get it up, so he couldn’t be disgusted with them—physically, at least. 

He hadn't been brave enough to tell Kurogane what he did for a living in detail, so he kept it vague and focused on what he wanted to do for a living—which was to be a Pharmaceutical Scientist and to research and test new medicines. 

Who cared how he got there, anyways? 

Even if he and Kuro would never have any sort of romantic relationship—he was very excited to meet him and see if he was just as gruff and adorable in person as he was when he could filter himself. 

Of course, he was also excited to see the look on Tomoyo’s face when she saw her grumpy big brother for the first time in 6 whole months. She had missed him and Fai knew it. He knew Kuro had missed her just as much and the two worried about each other endlessly. 

Tomoyo was utterly adorable and had become almost like Fai’s own little sister since she had started working at this coffee shop—While Fai didn’t know what Kuro looked like—if they were related, he had to be just as cute, right? 

Of course, picturing a male version of Tomoyo wasn’t really an easy thing to do... Fai kept seeing her adorable little doe eyes on someone a bit taller and that's where he cut the thought off because he had heard Kuro’s voice—even if it was just for that 2 minute conversation—there was no way he could be tiny like her, right? 

Fai felt his phone vibrate and checked the notification almost immediately. 

Kurogane >> Just parked about 3 blocks away. Omw. 

Fai set the phone down and was grinning ear to ear as he looked up to see Tomoyo’s scolding look. “You’re not even listening to me, are you?” 

“I got distracted.” He could freely admit that and watched her playfully roll her eyes before shaking her head.

“If I’m boring you, you can just tell me, silly.” Tomoyo closed her notebook and Fai shrugged and wrinkled his nose in amusement. 

“That’s not it. You know I love hearing you fill me in on the latest gossip.” Fai sipped his coffee and winked and Tomoyo raised an eyebrow at him. 

“You’re getting all happy texting my brother again, aren't you?” Tomoyo caught on and Fai only grinned harder. 

She knew the two of them were keeping closely in touch—they talked about Kuro a lot together. Fai had wanted to know everything about him that he could, after all—and the ‘embarrassing’ stories she had shared had only endeared the man to him even more. 

“Guilty as charged.” Fai knew he would be here any minute now and it was extremely hard not to turn in his seat to watch the door. 

He had strategically placed Tomoyo so that she would have a clear view of whomever walked through the front door. As it was right before closing—they were the only people aside from the owner still present and he had tipped him off to the secret plan. 

“I’m glad you two are friends, you know.” Tomoyo sipped her hot chocolate before looking down at her lap thoughtfully. “He’s been in a better mood knowing that you are keeping a close eye on me.” 

“Glad I can help. Kuro has waaaaay too many things to worry about as it is. I’m happy to help any way I ca—”

Fai heard the distinct sound of the bells that jangled any times the doors opened and he watched as Tomoyo’s eyes shot up. He had no way of knowing she was going to burst into tears—but he did not blame her one bit. 

Only after she had shot up from her chair—knocking it over in the process—did Fai turn to get his first glance at Kurogane. 

By the time he had pushed his own chair out enough to turn around Tomoyo had already jumped into her older brother’s arms and Fai caught the end of the little spin round they did. 

Dear god he was not expecting him to be so… 

BIG. 

Tomoyo was a tiny little thing, sure—but Kurogane was an absolute beast of a man. Fai could hardly believe that they really had the same parents, given their huge size difference. It wasn’t just a height difference, either. 

Where Tomoyo was small, petite, and delicate—Kurogane was tall, broad and tough. 

He just looked like he could smush you like a tiny little insignificant bug if you rubbed him the wrong way. As if his sheer mass wasn’t enough, Kuro was rocking out his uniform and Fai did not know until now that he had a thing for that. 

Tomoyo and Kurogane remained like that for a long moment, but eventually, he set her down when she started to wiggle. Once she was back down on her feet, he leaned down and wiped the tears from her cheeks before roughly rustling her hair and Fai got to hear that deep, even voice for the second time ever. 

“You’re as tiny as ever, brat. You had 6 months, but you’re still small as hell.” the corner of Kurogane’s lips were just barely curled into a smile and while he might not be tearing up like his sister—his crimson eyes were projecting every ounce of emotion he felt. 

Fuck, was he handsome. 

Tomoyo could have at least warned Fai that her brother was literally the hottest, most attractive thing in the universe. Maybe he could have mentally prepared himself so he wasn’t staring like a dumfounded moron watching them. 

“Not everyone needs to be a giant, you know.” Tomoyo grinned up at him and Kurogane raised both of his eyebrows. 

“Hey—I can reach the top shelves in the cupboards—what do you have going for you, shorty?” He still had his massive hand sitting on top of her head as if to point out just how short she really was. 

Tomoyo was not at all bothered by the fact that Kurogane was almost double her height—and grinned up at him with a cheeky smile Fai had only seen her flash at Sakura before now. “I dont hit my head on doorways.”

Kurogane used the leverage of his hand to pull her in for another hug and then he laughed—the corner of his eyes wrinkling and his pearly whites flashing. “Touché.” 

Hot damn. 

Kurogane seemed to notice Fai all of a sudden and his expression snapped back to one that was more reserved but still warm and friendly. “Fai, I take it?” 

Fai blinked rapidly—swallowed a few times—and when his voice decided it wanted to take a vacation and make him look like a total dork—he settled for a smile and nodded. 

“Shit—You sure you’re not a chick, pretty boy?” Kurogane took a step closer to him and held out his hand. 

It took a second for Fai’s brain to catch up with him and he managed to laugh and shake his hand. “I’m sure.” 

Kuro’s hands were warm and his grip firm and Fai wasn’t sure why his mind was was distracting him with images of those large tan hands doing something more… pleasurable… But his cheeks were heating up and he was sure he was going to ruin his first impression if he didn’t get himself under control. 

“Thanks for looking out for my baby sis. I owe you a drink.” Kuro let go of his hand after one last squeeze and all Fai could do was nod again. 

What was his problem? He played out men’s fantasies every day of the week—It was his job to be sexy and confident. But here he was—a blushing, stuttering mess in front of the one person he actually wanted to make a good impression on? 

Someone who wasn’t even gay and that he had a snowball’s chance in hell of wooing, given that he played for the wrong team and Fai had to work to keep himself in school, his mother in her home and the medical bills she had racked up paid? 

“You ok there?” Kurogane’s brows furrowed and Fai was very aware that Tomoyo was snickering at Fai’s plight just out of her brothers sight. 

“I—I uh—you’re really tall.” Fai managed to stutter out and Kurogane chuckled and shrugged. 

Good thing, too, because Fai probably would have continued on with “and insanely hot”. Best to leave that scrap of info aside for now.

“Yeah, I know.” To his surprise, Kuro pulled out one of the chairs and sat down at the table with them and Tomoyo pranced over to take her seat again, as well. “Better?” 

“Oh no—I mean, yes—but you don’t—I like that you’re tall!” he stuttered out and Kurogane gave him a strange look while his little sister hid her snickers behind both of her hands. “I’m sorry…” 

Fai looked down at his hands and felt his cheeks and ears heat up in embarrassment. 

What was his deal? 

“Why be sorry?” Kurogane leaned back in his seat and looked Fai up and down casually before focusing his attention on the blond’s surprised look. Their eyes locked for a moment and for the first time tonight, Fai was the sole focus of those impossibly red eyes. 

They were firey and passionate and warm and Fai got totally lost in them. They fit Kuro’s rough but sweet personality perfectly. He never could have imagined the type of presence the man had in person from just the short, direct but surprisingly thoughtful text messages he had been receiving for months now. 

“Look—I know I got a mean mug, but I’m not gonna eat ya, blondie.” Kurogane gave him a serious look—as if he hadn't been attractive enough as it was? 

Ughhhhh. Could Fai get a do over? 

He managed to pull his smile on a little brighter and gave a tense laugh before averting his stare to their feet. Gosh… even his feet were big. 

Kuro thought Fai was afraid of him? Is that how he was coming off? He didn’t mean to look terrified—he usually had better control of himself than this and Fai honestly had no idea why he was acting this way. 

Afraid of coming off like a blubbering idiot, sure, but Kuro wasn’t scary—not when he knew exactly how sweet the man was. 

Fai glanced at Tomoyo and she wiped the smirk off her face and scooted a little closer. “Is Fai what you were expecting, Nii-san?” 

Yeahhhhh… that was not the help Fai was looking for… 

Fai kept his eyes glued to the floor and there was a long silence. Well—the short silence felt impossibly long to him, anyways. 

Kurogane ended up leaning forward in his seat again and Fai’s breath hitched when his chin was pushed up by the first knuckle of the taller man's index finger. As used to his appearance being judged by men as he was—Fai held still out of habit and let Kurogane slowly tilt his face to look him over. 

His hand fell after he got a good look and Kurogane had a dead serious expression on his face as he answered. “Prettier.” 

Fai didn’t have a chance to react to that before Tomoyo was directing the very same question his way. “What about you, Fai?” 

Right, Fai—Get your shit together. 

It wasn’t like this man was a stranger—he had pretty much been the blond’s closest friend since they had started talking—no need to act like some sort of love struck kitten. 

Fai swallowed once, twice and cleared his throat and grinned. “I didn’t really have a clear image. It didn’t matter to me what Kuro looked like, but it would have been nice for you to warn me your brother was so _handsome_.” 


	3. Chapter 3

Things had changed since Kuro got back to town. 

In a good way. 

For the most part, anyways. 

Fai liked that Kurogane responded more quickly to his messages in the evenings when he wasn’t at work—and he really liked that he got to see him most nights when he swung by the cafe to snag his baby sister. 

He had found himself tweaking his schedule to accommodate dropping by the coffee shop right before closing to “get a coffee before he had to study” so he could see him. Fai didn’t think Kurogane knew any better—but Tomoyo gave him a knowing look anytime he would show up right before closing. 

Kurogane might be home for the next few months but he worked a crazy amount of hours—and he had to commute from his house in Beacon Hill to Bremerton where the navy base was located, which was about an hour and a half with light traffic—usually longer, because traffic was rarely nice here. 

He had to be there early and was usually stuck late. Typically just managing to get back to this side of town right when the cafe was closing. While that meant Fai got to see Kurogane in his uniform every few days—he didn’t envy that schedule. 

Between work and school, Fai spent almost as much time ‘working’ but that was all time spent studying, holding up his arrangements, heading to and from class and pretty soon also working his unpaid internship. So basically, it was spent sitting on his ass—or laying on his back… 

He didn’t have a hard job like poor Kuro, so Fai spent a fair amount of time worrying over him. Not that he hadn’t done that when Kurogane had been away those first 5 months—he just got to see how tired he was at the end of the day, now. 

Since Kurogane worked so many hours and Fai had a tricky schedule that worked around his regulars—they hadn’t gotten to hang out since that first night. 

While Fai loved that their messaging habits hadn’t changed and had actually increased—he craved time with Kurogane in a way that threw him for a loop. 

Usually he couldn’t wait to lock himself into his studio and be alone—but he could hardly stand it these days. Choosing instead to pack up and study at the coffee shop, even on the days Tomoyo didn’t work. 

Fai had stopped meeting his clients there, as well—just in case Kurogane might catch him with them. He still had yet to explain exactly what it was he was doing with these people he was constantly meeting—not because he thought that Kurogane would judge him—but because he loved the way Kuro low key flirted with him over their messages. 

He knew it would come up eventually and their dynamics would almost definitely change—so Fai wanted to enjoy it as long as he could. 

Fai was in the middle of playing the ‘fake it till you make’ it game with is currently client—not that he had anything against Asagi—he just wasn’t really getting the job done and Fai had already gotten him off more than once. 

While he had no issues with stopping now—his client was _one of those._

He didn’t want to emasculate him by calling it quits early—but he wouldn’t argue if the client was ready to be done. Hell—Fai prefered selfish lovers since he paid no mind to his own pleasure—it made appointments go by faster and there was a lot less play acting. 

His thighs and lower back were getting sore at this point and he was looking at the clock impatiently. It was times like this that Fai really wished he was a girl and could fake an orgasum—granted faking that wasn’t impossible—just difficult. 

Tomoyo was in fact working tonight and Fai wanted to see Kuro before they left.

Normally when someone just wasn’t getting him there Fai would get on top—but when even that didn’t help he had to get creative. Now—he had always had a very vivid imagination but Asagi was just so loud that Fai’s eye was practically twitching with annoyance. 

10 minutes till closing time… 

He would have to wrap this up if he wanted to see Kuro. Could he cover Asagi’s mouth to get some peace and quiet to focus? If he did it in a sexy way? 

This client was pretty vanilla when they were together so it might just weird him out but hey—he was either gonna like it or get turned off enough to leave. 

As if on que Fai’s phone started ringing loudly and he flashed his client an apologetic look. “Since its so late it might be an emergency…” 

“No it’s fine. Make sure everything is ok and we can finish up ok baby?” Fai climbed off of him and walked across the room to snag his phone that was charging in the kitchen. 

It was… Kuro? 

“Hey, is everything ok?” The slight panic in his voice was totally genuine—it was pushing 10pm and Kurogane never called him. 

“Yeah—just wondered if you wanted to snag a drink with me? I’m dropping Tomoyo off at Sakura’s house for the weekend as soon as she’s outta work and figured you might want some company?” Kurogane sounded tired but in a good mood. 

It took all of Fai’s acting skills not to smile softly at that invitation. Instead he turned to face Asagi and gave a worried frown. “Just a sec, ok?” 

“Yeah—take your time blondie. I know you said you had some work shit tonight or whatever.” 

Fai wedged the phone between his ear and his shoulder and tapped the space bar on his laptop that had been charging next to his phone in the kitchen. The screen lit up and he quickly typed in his password before pulling up a new message to Kurogane. 

Fai >> This client is being needy. I should have been done close to an hour ago so play along ok? 

Fai >> I don’t usually do this but I am desperate. 

He could hear the text come through on Kurogane’s end and he heard him pull the phone away from his ear before checking it. 

“They giving you a hard time? You need some help?” Kurogane’s tone became low and threatening—as sexy as Kurogane coming to beat his annoying client seemed—He paid Fai close to 500 per meet which was not an easy arrangement to negotiate. 

Fai >> No no. I’m ok. 

Fai turned back away from Asagi who was watching him with a concerned expression. 

Good—he was buying it. 

“You sure?” Kurogane was not—but Fai could explain better when he saw him that it was no biggie—he just needed an excuse to get him out the door. 

“Oh my gosh that is terrible!! Do you need me to come and get you?” Fai played up the panicked act as he walked across the room and opened his top drawer to start pulling out clean clothes. 

“What the fuck are you tal—”

“Yes, I’ll be right there, just hold tight, ok?” Fai flashed Asagi another apologetic look and mouthed ‘sorry’ his way. 

He was usually pretty slow on the uptake but even he got the picture and shrugged and offered a quiet “Hope everything is ok.” while he started pulling his pants back on. 

“Oi. What are you playing, idiot.” Kurogane sounded annoyed now and Fai sent him a mental apology. 

“Let me get dressed and call you right back, ok?” Fai offered—still laying on the act as thick as plausible to ensure that his client kept getting dressed and didn’t decide to change his mind because it seemed as though things had settled. 

“I don’t understand what the fuck is going on but ok, I guess?” 

“I’ll walk you through it, I promise.” And with that Fai disconnected the call. 

A lie about a friend getting into a fender bender on I-5 came to him easily enough and after enough assurances that he didn’t need a ride and had access to his neighbor’s car—Asagi finally left and Fai dialed Kuro back up as he went back to his dresser to pick out an outfit. 

“You ok?” Was the older man’s harsh response and Fai frowned for real this time. 

“Yes! Sorry if I scared you there. I am safe and sound and now free of my clingy client that wanted to hang out past his appointment time. Sorry to use you as a fake emergency excuse, but I thought I was never gonna get rid of him.” Fai laughed as he rummaged through his underwear. 

Did he want to wear sexy undies? There was no way Kurogane was going to get to see them—but they might give him a tiny confidence boost. 

Of course so would the alcohol… 

“Ah.” Fai could practically see Kurogane shake his head in acknowledgment and found himself smiling thinking of what the expression on his face might be. “He didn’t give you any trouble, did he?” 

“No no—” Fai caught himself before he made up a lie—he was trying hard to be as honest with Kurogane as he could. He didn’t want to lose Kurogane over something as silly as that—even though he wasn’t ready to fess up to what he did for a living, either. “I’m perfect and excited you invited me out! Where were you thinking we go?” 

“Depends on what you’re up to. I got a feeling we don’t frequent the same kinda places.” Kurogane sighed and Fai was left wondering what kind of places Kurogane like to get sloshed at? 

Where there like… navy bars he went to with his buddies? 

Fai had never been a night club person and he didn’t like the bar scene any better. He met all his clients online and they kept him busy enough that he was never left with time or energy for that sorta thing. He had been doing this since 18—and even though last year he had finally hit 21—he mostly enjoyed the fact that he could finally buy his own cold medicine with his fancy new horizontal id. 

You picked up an annoying amount of colds, viruses and sore throats when part of your job was swapping spit with sometimes up to three different people in a single day. 

“You tell me what to wear and we’ll go to your favorite place?” While Fai had been to a few places with clients—none of them were really someplace he wanted to go to with Kuro. 

The blond was really interested to see what Kuro would pick, though—he was always so sparse with details and information that things like his favorite drinking spot where a totally mystery. 

“Ok. Just wear what you usually do—you don’t need to be too dressy or anything.” That should be easy enough. 

Fai wasn’t really a casual dresser—he never knew when he was going to bump into a client so he usually wore slacks and a button down shirt. Fai walked over to his closet and slid the door open and started leafing through his clean cloths. 

He hadn’t actually bought clothes for himself in… 4 years? He got presents from his clients when they felt like spoiling him on top of their usual arrangement. Most of it was on the higher end dressy side—but didn't take too long for him to find a well fitting yet casual cardigan and a pair of tan pants that he knew would make his ass look amazing. 

Again—Kuro probably wasn’t looking at his ass. He was oddly flirty sometimes—but Fai assumed he acted that way with everyone. 

They were good friends—at least Fai thought so anyway—but they were just that. 

“Ok. I’ll be ready in 20? Did you and Tomo wanna just come up to my flat while I get ready?” Tomoyo had been over a lot on nights she had had to wait for Toya to pick her up when Kuro had been away. 

Kurogane had never been up here before but it would be nicer waiting up here versus in his car, right? 

“Yeah, that’s fine. She knows which one is yours, right?” 

“Yup! I’ll leave the door unlocked and hop in the shower.” Before he did that… he would need to straighten up a bit… 

Mainly hide the trashcan next to the bed which held the used condoms and probably change the blankets since his bed was the only place to sit… 

Fuck. 

Fai headed into the bathroom and turned the water up—the shitty water heater took a long time to warm up so he would get that going while he cleaned up. He left his clothes on the bathroom counter and hustled back out to clean. 

He pulled the comforter off the bed—dumping his collection of pillows and smaller throws onto the floor. The comforter got tossed onto the floor of the closet along with the rest of the clothes that needed washing—he pulled a bin out from under his bed and pulled out a new comforter and hastily spread it across the sheets. 

He repiled everything back onto his bed, setting the pillows against the wall so that Kuro and Tomoyo could have something to lean back against aside from the metal bars of the day bed while they waited. 

Fai unlocked the door and shot off a quick text letting Kuro know that he could just let himself in before he headed back into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He didn’t waste too much time in the shower—not that there was ever enough hot water to be in there for more than 5-10 minutes, anyway. 

He quickly toweled off most of the water before getting dressed and blow drying his hair and tying it back in a loose ponytail. 

He checked himself over in the mirror one last time before taking a deep breath and opening the bathroom door. 

Tomoyo was in the spot she usually claimed when she was over—right up in the corner of the day bed where she could see the cartoon Fai constantly had playing for background noise. She was grinning at her brother who looked even bigger than usual in the tiny space of his studio. 

Not that Fai minded. 

“Hey, you two.” Fai flashed a happy smile as he stepped around Kurogane to grab a pair of shoes out of his closet. “Sorry its so cramped in here, but make yourselves comfortable.” 

“You got interesting taste.” Kurogane was glancing about at the general business of the decor and eyed the glitter clad cupboards for a moment. “Damn good thing you’re so fucking smart because you would suck as an interior designer.” 

“Awe!! Kuro thinks I am smart!!” Fai managed to snag a pair of socks and wis the middle of balancing on one foot while bending over to get it on his foot while he cooed. “That might just be the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Tch. It wasn’t a compliment, sparkles.” Kurogane watched Fai hop once, then twice, then stepped forward so that the blond could lean against him as his balance teetered. 

“Thanks.” Fai tried to not think too hard about how warm Kurogane was as he leaned against his leg to keep his balance and slipped the sock on his foot. “Tomo-sweetie likes my style, though. Right?” 

“Your studio is very you, Fai.” Tomoyo looked up from her phone and wrinkled her nose in amusement and Fai could almost hear Kuro-grumpy roll his eyes as he snorted. 

“Congrats. My 16-year-old baby sister likes your flat. Probably because it looks like a teenage girls mood board projectile vomited all this place.” Fai couldn’t help but laugh at that and almost lost his balance again as he switched feet to get his other sock on. “Would you be careful?” 

“I mean… I could probably sit down to put my socks on… but I sorta like to live my life on the edge.” Fai straightened and winked up and Kurogane looked the slightest bit amused by his antics for once. “So, do I get to know where we're going?” 

“Nope.” Kurogane pulled his phone out of his back pocket and glanced at it and Fai huffed. 

He wasn’t the biggest fan of surprises—but he could be patient for a surprise from Kurogane. 

“Does my outfit choice meet your approval?” Fai did a little spin or drama’s sake and smiled with his eyes closed so he did not have to see Kurogane’s expression. 

His soft sigh hit Fai right in the feels and he dared a peek—his eyes opening just in time to catch the tail end of a small smile. “You look perfect.”

Fai covered his blush with a quick laugh as he again side stepped Kurogane to head over to his dresser. “Kuro looks perfect, too, but he always looks so nice.” he had not missed that this was probably the first time he had even seen the man out of his uniform—perfect did not do Kurogane justice. 

Somehow, his massive arms and broad chest looked even more magnificent than usual in the black button down shirt he was wearing. It was tucked nicely into a pair of black dress pants and a shiny black belt added just the nice dressy, but not too formal vibe. 

Of course… Fai figured that Kuro would look even better with those clothes strewn about his floor—but he would not be able to keep a straight face if he thought too hard about that right now. No—Fai had bigger things to worry about at the moment… 

Like if he could find the film he had finally remembered to order the his for camera…

He had been so busy between school and his clients that he hadn't had a chance to use his baby in ages. He could use some nice new pictures for his walls though—and there was no better subject then the adorable little Tomoyo and her handsome older brother. 

“What’s your secret to always looking so devilishly handsome?” Fai grabbed the camera bag and of course he had not been smart enough to slip it in there when the package had arrived. 

“I just wake up this way, mostly.” Kurogane leaned back against the door and it was Fai’s turn to roll his eyes. 

Of course he did. 

Fai shot the man’s sister a look and she was snicking again and shrugged at him. Well—that was that, he supposed. Kuro just always looked good. 

“Oh, Kuro... “ Fai pulled the camera out and checked—still outta film—,so he obviously hadn’t loaded the bad boy up either… So where the hell would he have hidden it on himself? 

At least he only had one room… so that narrowed the search radius down, right? 

“What’cha got that look on your face for? Lost something?” Kurogane watched him closely as he opened the plastic drawers that held his various crafting supplies and started rummaging around for the tiny box of blanks. 

If he absolutely couldn’t find it, he could always use his phone… but that wasn’t the same. 

“Maybe? I thought I had ordered new film for my polaroid camera… but I obviously didn’t or I hid it somewhere.” Fai pulled the bottom drawer open and shoved both his hands in to rummage about. 

Really? When was the next chance he was gonna have the two of them up here for a photo? 

“You’ve never mentioned the picture thing.” Kurogane glanced about the room at the hundreds of photos Fai had tacked up. Pictures of his friends, his family, his little brother and his mother. There were photos of random things he had come across that he had found pretty, of people on the streets of the city that had stood out to him, of shop windows and displays, of sunsets, of animals and this or that. 

Fai had hundreds more that he liked but not enough wall to find room for them, or cover up other photos. He had albums full of photos his mother had taken over the years, as well—before she had gotten sick, she used to be a photographer and when Fai had shown an interest in photography as well, she had gifted him with her old polaroid camera. 

He used to carry it around with him everywhere he went and after so many years, it looked very well loved. 

“It’s a hobby.” Fai straightened and looked through the top of his dresser one last time. “One I don’t have time for, but mom has a dark room at her house. I like instant film cameras the best, though, so that is what I use.” 

“You’re pretty good.” Fai felt his cheeks heating up again. 

Kurogane didn’t usually compliment him so much… only when they were actually speaking in person and while Fai was used to getting superficial compliments about his looks and such from clients—he didn’t know what to do or say when this man did it. 

“It’s not so hard. I just take pictures of things I like.” His mother had tried to teach him the ins and outs of it—but Fai just liked having pictures to help him remember things that made him happy—they didn’t need to be fancy or artsy. 

“So you need your camera now because—” he let his question trail off and Fai grinned ear to ear. 

“Memories, silly. This is the first time you’ve come over and were going out for a fun night.” on a whim, the blond peeked behind the dresser and he was glad he had, because wedged between it and the wall was what he was looking for. “Found it!” 

It did not take long for Fai to get things set up and he first had Kurogane and Tomoyo smush in together for a picture—he took three—one for himself, one for Kuro to take with him next time he left—and one for Tomoyo to put in her locker at school. 

Next, Fai showed off his pre-cellphone selfie skills and got one of three of them—then Tomoyo had so sweetly offered to get some of Fai and Kurogane together. 

Of course—Fai was very well aware that Tomoyo had a knack for posing people and so—while Fai probably would have been more than happy to just pull a silly face and squish in close—she had other plans. 

Not that Fai was going to complain. Nearly 30 minutes later and Fai’s small kitchen counter was completely covered in new photos and he was now fresh out of film again. Kurogane was surprisingly indulgent when it came to his little sister—and Tomoyo was a little genius, so there was plenty of keepers in the bunch. 

Fai’s very favorite was a shot of Kurogane with the blond over his shoulder, after Fai had mistakenly asked if he was too heavy while Tomoyo had been getting a shot of him sitting on the older man’s lap. Kurogane had given him the you-really-are-an-idiot face and had hoisted him up all on his own to prove just how strong he was—his little sister had been quick with the camera and gotten Kurogane’s triumphant smile while he glanced back over his shoulder and Fai had craned his neck to blush up at him. 

The photos that had been taken almost directly after were also treasures—of Fai laughing, because what else are you supposed to do in that situation, and Kurogane looking reserved but very obviously pleased with himself. 

Eventually, they had headed out and loaded up in the car and Fai and Tomoyo had chattered away happily while Kurogane quietly navigated through what little bit of late night traffic there was. They dropped her off and Fai continued to chatter away about whatever came to mind while they headed to wherever it was Kurogane was planning on taking him. 

When most people thought of Seattle, they thought of rain—but the summers were actually quite dry here. Something that didn’t change with the seasons was the fact that it was almost impossible to ever find a parking space—but on a lovely night like tonight, Fai was happy to have a nice walk after they finally found an open spot. 

Now—Fai could admit that he wasn’t the most self aware when it came to his surroundings, so when he almost walked right into someone, he pulled the oops-my-bad and was going to side step to get out of their way only to be suddenly pulled closer to Kurogane with a firm hand on his waist. 

Fai almost jumped out of his skin and kept his eyes downcast as he moved his hand to the small of Fai’s back and continued to lead him forward. He might have expected a sharp remark from Kuro about being more careful—but he only got a short flash of red eyes focusing on him before they were again directed to the sidewalk in front of them. 

He was not going to complain about the contact, but he struggled to keep his expression neutral for the rest of the walk. 

Kurogane had chosen a nice whisky bar called—funnily enough—The Whisky Bar. 

Fai had heard of it but he wasn’t a huge drinker and was the last person you would ask to appreciate the ‘fine taste’ of any type of liquor. Booze was booze, though, and he was interested to see what kind of places Kurogane frequented. 

The place was busy but quiet—soft music and dim lighting encouraged a calm ambience that made Fai feel comfortable enough. 

They found a nice quiet table and Kurogane instructed him to sit while he got them both a drink. Kurogane hadn’t seemed annoyed in the slightest when the blond had told him that he wasn’t a huge drinker and therefore had no idea what he might want. 

The view of Kurogane’s fine ass as he leaned his elbows onto the bar and ordered their drinks was a nice one, but Fai prefered his grumpy expression that was permanently pasted onto his face—and was directed solely at him once he slid into the seat across from him. 

Kurogane set their glasses down onto the table and slid a cocktail towards Fai—studying him closely and probably waiting for his reaction. While he had no idea what the heck it was, Fai happily accepted it and raised the glass to his lips and took a sip. 

“You really aren't a drinker, then.” Kurogane sipped his own drink as he watched Fai wrinkle his nose and shiver. 

It might be a cocktail, but you could really taste the liquor. 

“If I do drink, it’s usually wine, and only when I go out.” Fai took another longer sip and set the glass down onto the table. That would take some getting used to, for sure. “What is it?” 

“A Manhattan.” Fai blinked at him expectantly a few times and Kurogane set his drink down and leaned back in his seat. “—’s got rye whisky, vermouth, bitters and I think the bartender put a tiny bit of cherry juice in there for ya.” 

“Oh—” Well that is probably why it tasted very distinctly like liquor. “—I’ve never had one before.” 

“I can tell.” Fai smiled brightly at Kurogane’s dry tone. 

“What is Kuro drinking?” Kurogane slid his glass across the table as a silent invitation to try it and while he was almost certain he wasn’t going to like it, Fai took a quick sip, anyways. 

Fai had figured it was some sort of whisky, given the color and the fact that this was a whisky bar—but it didn’t taste like any type of whisky he had tried before. Granted—the few times he had had whisky, it had been in plastic shot glasses and knocked back quickly to get sloshed at frat parties—so not exactly on the same level as this stuff. 

It was not his cup of tea, it still had a burn, but it was nowhere near as bad as he had expected. 

Fai managed not to pull a face, and was pretty proud of himself on that front as he handed the glass back over. 

Kurogane quirked an eyebrow at him. “And?” 

“I’ve never had anything like that before, either.” Fai might only be 22 and so not expected to have a developed palate when it came to things like fancy whisky or fine wines—he opted not to go with his usual answer of “It tastes like liquor.” 

Kurogane nodded slowly and Fai was suddenly aware that this was really the first time the two of them had been alone together. Usually, when they were texting, it was easy for Fai to change the subject if he got too many one word replies in a row—and so far, when it had been the two of them in person, Tomoya had been there to get the conversation moving again. 

While at first, Fai was frantically trying to come up with something, anything at all to say—he was quickly distracted when Kurogane started to undo the buttons that held the cuffs of his sleeves closed and rolled them up to his elbows. 

While that in and of itself might not seem like a huge deal—especially given that the room was a bit on the warm side—Fai was not expecting to see bold tattoos starting at the wrists of both his arms and going all the way up to disappear under the black fabric of his button down. 

Hot damn. 

Fai couldn’t help but stare at the elaborate designs. Kurogane’s left arm was decorated with an intricate chinese dragon that coiled up his forearm and—Fai would assume from the size of it—it probably continued all the way up his biceps, as well. While the dragon itself was made up of bold, dark colors—there were splashes of red and pink lotus blossoms that looked as though they were being gently blown in a breeze, flowing up along the dragon’s body to somewhere hidden under Kurogane’s shirt. 

His right arm was just as breathtaking and even more bold—delicate, yet vivid pink and red peonies adorned a flowing black design that also disappeared up and under his shirt and the sheer level of detail in each one of the blossoms was mind blowing. 

Fai NEVER would have guessed that he had been hiding such gorgeous artwork under all those long sleeves he always wore.

His hands moved before he realized what he was doing. Fai reached for Kurogane’s left hand and grasped it lightly in both of his own before gently pulling it towards himself to force the older man to lean forward so he could get a better look. 

He continued to hold Kurogane’s large tanned hand in his own smaller one and used the other to trace over the bold dark lines of the dragon and his brows furrowed in concentration as his eyes scanned over and memorized all of the small details that had gone into making the sleeve truly stunning. 

Eventually, Fai’s manners caught up with him and he quickly dropped his hold on Kurogane and sat back in his seat. Fai knew Kurogane was not a touchy-feely person and had a big personal space bubble that Fai was usually careful not to encroach on. He knew it was a big deal given some of the conversations they had had over messenger about the subject. 

Fai took a deep breath and looked up to properly apologize only for the words to die in this throat at the soft look in those red eyes. Fai wouldn’t go so far as to call the slight curl in his lips a smile—but the relaxed way Kurogane was watching him made Fai pause as he felt his heart rate speed up a little bit. 

“You ok there?” he said after nearly half a minute of the blond looking at him with wide eyes and Fai wanted to kick himself. 

He was being an idiot again.

“I—uh—they’re just so beautiful I couldn’t help it… I didn’t mean to uh… to just sorta grab you.” Fai let his eyes fall back down to the beautiful artwork and he hardly heard the low rumble of Kurogane’s soft chuckle. 

“It’s fine. Here—” Kurogane leaned forward again and offered his forearm over to Fai again so he could get an even better look than before. “Stop being sorry all the damn time, ok?” 

“Sor—”

“Fai.” Kurogane cut him off and it was Fai’s turn to laugh as he went back to studying the tattoo. He had gotten used to Kuro scolding him for this stuff a while ago, but he was so worried he would do something wrong—like invade his friend’s personal space—that he just couldn’t help it. 

“It’s just—”

“No.” Kurogane sighed and sipped his whisky with his free arm while Fai was tracing along the flow of lotus petals with feather light touches. “I don’t even wanna hear it, Blondie. You don’t need to walk on eggshells around me. I have no issue telling you to kindly fuck off if you cross any sort of line.” 

Fai’s fingers ghosted lower and traced along the design that bordered the unmarked skin of his wrist and hummed in amusement. “Would you really _kindly _tell me to fuck off?” 

“Well—I like you, so yeah. I’m not gonna be an ass about it.” Fai looked up and flashed a silly smile to see Kurogane was still watching him with the same calm expression. 

“Hyuu~ Kuro called me smart and admits that he likes me all on the same day! It must be my lucky day.” Fai felt his cheeks heating up again and his heart fluttered. 

So far, all he had gotten was a brash “You’re alright, I guess.” and Kurogane admitting that he liked him was a huuuuuge upgrade. Sure—probably not romantically—but Fai would take what he could get. 

Kurogane shook his head slowly and that finally smiled. “There’s my idiot. ‘Bout damn time you stoped acting like you don’t fucking know me.” 

“You call me smart but then I’m an idiot? Hm how does that one work?” Fai let go of Kurogane’s left arm and held his hand out for the right one to give it the same treatment. 

Fai’s eyes had been drawn to the left one first—there was a lot more going on in that sleeve—the small details and artwork were impressive. The right one, though? Well, peonies were veeeery different than a manly dragon tattoo—they didn’t scream Kurogane at all which meant that there was a story behind this sleeve… 

Anyone could have assumed that the manly dragon was something that his friend had just found cool—though Kuro really wasn’t the kind of person to just slap something he thought looked bad ass onto his skin. That one probably had just as much meaning—but it didn’t peak Fai’s interest as much. 

Unlike the left side, which was bold and in your face—the right arm’s artwork was delicate and the flowers were so detailed they looked almost lifelike… 

The lotus petals tied the two sleeves together—and Fai was itching to know the story behind them. 

“You got booksmarts, but you are the biggest idiot I know.” Kurogane set his drink down and offered up his right arm without complaint and Fai very carefully started to study the art. 

His muse was running absolutely wild at the moment and he regretted not bringing a camera… not his beloved polaroid, though—this lovely art was more than something he wanted to throw up on his wall along with the hundreds of other little memories he wanted to surround himself with. 

No—Fai wanted to go to his mother's house and get one of her nice cameras and pay this masterpiece proper homage… 

He didn’t even realize that he had pretty much checked out of the conversation till Kurogane kicked his foot under the table. “You keep doing that and I’m gonna think something is wrong with ya.” 

Fai was about to apologize but caught himself and covered it with a cough. 

“It’s just… would you be comfortable telling me about the inspiration behind these?” The blond ran his palm over the tattoo one last time before sitting back in his seat and letting Kurogane have his arms back. 

Kurogane didn’t look the least bit bothered by the question and nodded. Fai knew he was a man of few words—but he hoped that Kuro didn’t skimp on the details. 

“Wondered when your nosey ass was gonna ask.” Kurogane finished off his whisky and set the glass down careful onto the table. 

“I’m not that noesy—” Fai knew that was a flat out lie—he was extremely nosey and most of he and Kurogane’s messages were just the poor man answering his endless questions. 

Kurogane did not dignify that with a response and crossed his arms over his chest after shifting into a more comfortable position. “I got the flower sleeve first—got that one started on my 18th birthday and my old man took me. Had to go back a couple of times to finish it and get the colors just right but me, dad and Tomoyo came up with the idea and found an artist all the way down in Portland to do it.” 

Oh. 

OH… 

Fai knew just from that bit of information that the peony tattoo was very sentimental to Kurogane… 

It had taken a while to get on a level with Kuro where the stoic man had been willing to share exactly what had happened to his parents—but he had opened up about it with Fai after the blond had been going through a particularly rough week with his own mom. 

It had been his way of giving Fai advice on how to handle some of the fears and overwhelming emotions that went along with losing a parent. 

Kurogane’s mother had passed away shortly after giving birth to Tomoyo—leaving Kurogane and his father to raise her. His mom had apparently always had frail health and had chosen to carry the baby to term even though the doctors had warned her that it could ultimately cost her her life… 

“—right arm is for mom—left arm is for dad and I designed that one myself. Tomoyo cried her eyes out when she saw it the first time, cause it’s all him—the dragon matches one he got when he was living in Tokyo, but the colors are different...”

Oh gosh. 

Fai had not been expecting that. He knew Kurogane had a quiet, thoughtful side but to hear him express all of that out loud? While watching that far off and with that slightly longing look in his eyes? 

“Do they go all the way up your arms, then?” Fai didn’t want to pry for any more information than he was already given and he didn’t want to make a huge deal over the fact that Kurogane had just really opened up to him. 

“Yeah—remind me to show you when we get back to your or my place. I’ll show ya—” Kurogane uncrossed his arms and twisted in his seat after unbuttoning the first two buttons on his dress shirt to pull back his shirt color. “—they go all the way up and connect here on my neck and the design goes all across my shoulders.”

Fai ended up needing to stand and walk around the table to get a good peek—but Kurogane wasn't exaggerating—lovely lotus flowers were a mash up between the two art styles that were featured on the different sleeves and Fai managed to just look and not touch, this time. 

Fai sat back down while Kurogane straightened his shirt back out and the blond sipped his drink slowly as he watched him do so. 

He really really wanted to photograph Kurogane now. 

There was a short silence between them, but this one wasn't uncomfortable. Fai was thinking and Kurogane could tell and left him to it. 

“You know how I didn’t tell you about the picture thing?” Fai’s voice was soft but tone slightly playful. Kurogane’s only response was a slight nod and Fai hummed thoughtfully. “You didn’t tell me about the tattoo thing.” 

Kurogane shrugged and Fai sipped his cocktail. “You never asked.” 

“Well, neither did you, Kuro-silly.” Fai winked and Kurogane smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

They didn’t stay long after that—Fai finished up his drink and declined a second even though Kurogane was going to be the one driving. They were not ready to call it a night just yet, since they both had been so busy with work and it was nice to finally be able to spend time with just the two of them. 

They ended up heading back to Kurogane’s house since it was closer and stopped on the way to pick up something that was a little more agreeable to Fai’s pallet. Kurogane casually mentioned that he is not really a wine guy, but if that was what Fai liked, he could rock it—so they ended up chilling on the couch, watching bad movies and drinking cheap wine. 

It was nice to have something to focus on aside from keeping a conversation going—but since they were watching older movies that they had both seen—it allowed for them to joke and converse without missing anything. 

The only light in the living room was the dim glow of the tv, and sometime after the start of the second movie, Fai had ended up pulling his feet up off the floor, tucking his knees to his body. Towards the end of the second movie, he was getting achy from that position so he stretched his legs out so that his feet reached to the other side of Kurogane—his legs resting across the older man's lap. 

While Fai regretted that move instantly—Kurogane’s only reaction was to rest a hand on Fai’s ankle, so he didn’t seem be too bothered by it. They started the third movie and by now Fai was starting to get tired. About twenty or so minutes in, he rested his head against the back of the couch and settled for listening. 

He probably would have fallen asleep if Kurogane hadn’t shifted and thrown his free arm over the back of the couch, waking Fai back up in the process. Another 20 or 30 minutes went by and Fai was just about to start drifting off when he felt strong fingers comb through the end of his ponytail slowly. 

Kurogane was playing with his hair… 

Why was Kurogane playing with his hair? 

Fai spent the rest of the movie fretting over what that meant… Given the man’s subtle but at the same time still very obvious flirting—the fact that he had basically taken Fai on a date—the cuddling—and now the hair petting?

Fai was very confused. 

He was very very confused. 

Confused, but comfortable. 

Confused, comfortable, and very content with Kurgane playing with the baby hairs at the nape of his neck, curling his fingers around the soft hair of his ponytail while his other hand’s thumb was running along the hem of his pants. 

So he certainly was not about to ruin this moment with questions about what way Kurogane swang. 

He was starting to fall asleep for the last time when the credits started rolling. He didn’t notice right away—but Kurogane’s low chuckle roused him from his half sleep and his eyes fluttered open to see Kurogane watching him. 

“Falling asleep over there?” 

“How are you still wide awake? You drank like an entire bottle of wine” Fai closed his eyes and relaxed as Kurogane rubbed his warm hands up and down the back of his neck. 

It was so relaxing, how could he not be falling asleep? 

“I’m a hell of a lot bigger than you—and I’m in the navy, so I built up a high tolerance.” Kurogane’s voice was a low rumble and Fai found himself smiling. 

He had heard Kuro’s horror stories about navy drinking games, and Fai was always delighted to get grumpy hangover texts on the few occasions poor Kuro got roped into them. 

“Are you ready for bed?” Fai wasn’t ready for tonight to be over—and he definitely wasn’t ready for Kuroane to stop playing with his hair.

All that aside—Fai was exhausted and nodded his head. “Yeah.” 

Kurogane patted Fai’s ankle and rolled his shoulder before pulling his arm back. Fai didn’t bother hiding his disappointment at the loss of contact and pouted and brought his knees to his chest again. “You got three choices.” 

“Ok...” Fai frowned as Kurogane got to his feet. 

“You can take my bed and I can sleep out here, you can sleep out here if that’s weird for you, or we can say fuck it and both sleep in my bed and no one gets a back ache. Up to you.” Kurogane held out a hand to help Fai to his feet and he accepted it without a second thought. 

The blond was taken aback for a moment. 

He was used to sharing a bed since he often accompanied clients on short trips, or dinner parties, and when you were fucking them anyways, what was the point of being weird about sharing a bed? 

He and Kurogane we’re strictly friends, but given the fact that he was practically falling asleep in his lap a few minutes ago? 

Yeah. 

They could share the bed. 

“I don’t mind sharing.” Fai stretched once he got to his feet and Kurogane silently motioned for him to follow. 

This was Kurogane and Tomoyo’s childhood home, and while it was charming, it was not very big at all. There were three bedrooms, and Kurogane’s was at the end of the hall, right across from the bathroom. He hit the light switch and Fai followed him into the room. 

It wasn't huge, but big enough to fit a queen size bed comfortably. Sparsely decorated, not that Fai couldn’t say that he was all that surprised to see that. Kurogane motioned to the edge of the bed and Fai plopped down and yawned. 

“I’ll lend you something more comfortable to sleep in.” Kurogane’s dresser was tucked into the closet and it only took him a few seconds to pull two shirts out of the second drawer and two pairs of pajama bottoms out of the third. 

He tosses Fai a t-shirt and a pair of pants before throwing his own on the bed next to the blond and working on the dress shirt buttons. Now—Fai might have been VERY curious to see what kind of muscles Kurogane might be hiding under that dress shirt—but he did his best not to ogle. He did a pretty good job of it, too, until Kurogane slid the dress shirt off his shoulders and he got a good look at the full, colorful tattoo sleeves. 

Pray for him, because he was going to hell given the images that rushed through his head. 

Then, the tank top he had been using as an undershirt got ditched and Fai was pretty sure he felt his soul leave his body. Sure—he had pictured Kurogane shirtless on more than one occasion. In those mental images, he had always been very well toned—but even the best imagination in the world could not do this man justice. 

Wow. 

“See something you like?” Kurogane quirked an eyebrow at him and Fai felt another blush wash across his face. 

Yes. Yes he did. 

“They’re just so beautiful.” The blond got to his feet and took a step closer to the older man. He held his hand up and let it hover over his left bicep and glanced at Kurogane for permission. 

Kurogane shrugged and tosses the dirty clothes in a hamper and let Fai do as he pleased. Long, pale fingers hesitantly ghosted over the elaborately decorated skin and the younger man took his sweet time looking over every inch of the tattoos. 

Fai really wished he had his camera… Kurogane was a work of art decorated with even more beautiful art, and it was hard to look away. 

Ghosting fingers turned into flat palms running over warm skin and while he was aware somewhere in the back of his mind that his touches were getting firmer—more confident—and less about the art on Kurogane’s skin as more about the skin itself—Kurogane didn’t tell him to stop, so he didn’t. 

Fai was still cautious and unsure of how to behave—what was ok, if this was something Kurogane enjoyed and wanted more of or if the older man was simply humoring him. 

In all the messaging they had done since Kurogane had first thanked him for helping out his little sister, their conversations had never strayed towards sex. Not once. Fai had assumed it was simply because Kurogane kept his sex life private and Fai didn’t have one outside of work and it wasn’t exactally what you wanted to talk to your crush about. 

Kurogane had talked to him about his crazy ex girlfriend who was trying to make him jealous by flaunting a recent engagement under his nose—but those conversations had all stuck strictly to the emotional aspects of what dealing with that was like. 

He had even coaxed Kurogane into a conversation about how lonely it was being away from home for half of the year. How he was constantly anxious about how his baby sister was doing and how frustrating it was that he never knew if he was going to be able to pick up the phone if something happened to her. 

They had talked about how hard it was to raise Tomoyo after their father had passed—how Kurogane never really got a chance to be a kid because his dad had gotten sick when he had been a freshman in highschool and had unfortunately lost his battle with cancer when Kurogane was only 19. 

Fai had had the privilege to be the one Kuro opened up to about how he had only gone into the service because he had seen his father getting worse and worse and knew there was no way he would be able to afford the house and everything his sister needed while washing dishes and struggling through college.. 

He knew he was close to Kurogane—closer than most people in his life, anyways. 

For everything Kurogane had shared with him, Fai had pretty much shared his life in the same amount of detail. Kuro was the only person Fai opened up to about his mother and thankfully he understood exactly what it was Fai was going through. 

Same deal with his late little brother… Kurogane might not have lost his only sibling like Fai had but he could put himself in Fai’s shoes and empathize with how that messed with your head. Fai talked to Kurogane about school, classes, the internships he was trying to get—and how restrictive it was being tied to where he could take the metro…

Fai was the first to admit that he was closer to Kurogane than anyone and he had told the man one more than one occasion that he was a legitimate lifesaver when Fai was feeling overwhelmed. 

They had talked about more than just their family issues—they consulted each other constantly in regards to what was currently going on in their lives. For Kurogane, that meant venting about work, Fai vented about school. 

They had spent a lot of time talking about boundaries, too, but not _bedroom _boundaries. 

Not if he dated, who he dated, or what he looked for in a SO. 

They had never talked about what Kuro liked or didn't like in the bedroom, about his fantasies or special traits he looked for in his partners. Hell—Fai was still half convinced the man that was currently leaning into his touches was straight and would push him away any second now. 

Fai had never shared any of those things with him either—but not because he wasn’t comfortable about it with most people… 

Just not Kuro. 

Kurogane had asked about Fai’s job on more than one occasion and he always changed the subject. The older man was not the kinda person to pry, so Fai had avoided it so far. He should probably have that talk with him before they—

Were they? 

Was that where this was headed? 

Well, Fai didn’t know what they were about to do, he hadn’t thought that far ahead . His heart was racing and his fingers were shaking with excitement he hadn’t felt since—

Ever? 

Not that he could recall, anyways. This whole thing was new and strange in a wonderful way that only slightly terrified him. Before he had started ‘taking clients’ he had been pretty naive. The few relationships he had been a part of were nothing more than puppy love—Fai had never been in actual love. 

Well—he had never had sex with someone he actually loved. He was pretty sure he had fallen in love with Kurogane before they had actually met in person. He had thought about having sex with Kurogane. About having a relationship with him…

Of course… he would probably be just as happy if they didn’t. 

Because he and Kurogane had never hashed anything out in the intimacy department, Fai had no clue if they would even be compatible in that way. Because all of his experience came from his clients, he had always gone into things with a mental list of do’s and don’ts. 

He knew before he even met a person what they expected of him—what mask he needed to wear—if he should lead or follow. Sometimes they even told him what to wear, what to say, what cologne to wear—it could get insanely specific. 

Fai had no clue if Kurogane was just enjoying a massage right now, or if he was aroused and waiting for the blond to make a move. If he made a move, was he going to ruin their friendship? Would Kurogane not want anything to do with him? 

If that was the case, Fai would much rather keep the older man as his friend. Sex was fine—but he needed that emotional connection with his best friend more. 

Fai was standing in front of Kurogane and he kept his eyes focused on the brilliant scale pattern of the dragon tattoo so he didn’t have to worry about what unspoken emotion was oozing form Kuro’s crimson eyes. 

He was still learning to read his expressions and while Kurogane may seem like he was in a constant sour mood—if you looked at his eyes you could see how he was truly feeling and Fai wasn’t ready to know just yet. 

If Kurogane was going to reject him, he wanted to savor this closeness for as long as he could. 

Normally, Fai was good at playing sexy and confident unless otherwise instructed. He didn’t feel sexy or confident at the moment, though. 

Scared. 

Anxious. 

Too tipsy to be thinking this hard… 

But not sexy—and definitely not confident. 

He trailed his hands up Kurogane’s strong arms and his mind wandered where it usually did when he looked at them…

Kuro probably gave the very best hugs. 

Hugs were platonic, right? Even if Kurogane wasn’t usually a touchy feely person, they had just been cuddled up on the couch minutes ago…. So… 

Fai didn’t think it was possible for his heart to beat any faster—but the damn thing managed to prove him wrong as he slid his palms up to the older man’s strong shoulders, down his toned pecs, down to his stomach...

Given the overwhelming silence that filled the house, the sound of Kurogane’s breath hitching was almost deafeningly loud. 

Fai almost lost his nerve, and his hands stopped dead in their tracks as he tried to get a handle on himself. Kurogane cleared his throat to speak and the blond figured it was now or never. With a quick half step forward, he wrapped both of his arms around Kurogane’s torso and squeezed tight. 

A second passed—then two—and three and Fai was sure he had made the biggest mistake of his life. He was sure Kurogane was going to push him away and never want to talk to him again—that he was going to lose his best friend and and and—

—and Kurogane hooked one of his big arms around Fai’s delicate waist and the other one crossed up his back The inside of Kurogane's wrist pressed against his neck and rough fingers tangled into his hair as he squeezed Fai nice and tight. 

Kurogane did in fact give the most excellent hugs and Fai pretty much melted against him. 

“Why are you shaking?” the older man curled his fingers to scratch at his scalp and Fai could die happy now. This was probably the best feeling in the entire universe. 

“I thought I ruined everything.” His words came out muffled, given the way his cheek was squished against Kurogane’s bare chest, but it was more or less understandable. 

Kurogane was silent for almost a minute—just hugged him a little tighter and leaned forward to rest his chin on top of the blond’s head while he continued to play with his hair. Fai could hear the slow pounding of his heart as well as the way he was taking slow, even breaths—he was warm and he smelled absolutely divine and Fai soaked every bit of it up as much as he could. 

When Kurogane let go of him after a deep sigh, Fai almost audibly whined at the loss of contact. He was not expecting for Kurogane to cup his cheeks a moment later and force him to look up at him. He held the blond’s face there—studying his expression closely, ruby eyes slightly narrowed, brows furrowed. 

“You did that thing you do.” Kurogane said at last and Fai batted his eyes in confusion. “Where you assume shit that isn’t true and get upset about it.” 

Oh. 

Maybe just a little. 

Well, Kuro had hugged him back and the sky didn't fall. 

So… yes, he had done that. 

“Sor—”

“No.” Kurogane’s voice was firm and Fai went rigid. 

Maybe the sky was gonna fall and this was just the start of the cracks forming? 

“If you say you are sorry I’ll kick your ass, idiot.” Kurogane watched him for another long moment—searching for something in his face, but Fai didn’t know what. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted you to see that you did that thing again—so next time you want something as dumb as a fucking hug, you dont shake like a fucking leaf.” 

“Oh... “ Fai tried to take a step back but Kurogane held him there and gave him a stern look. “My bad?” 

“That’s the same thing as I’m sorry. No more. Tell me what the fuck just went on in your head without apoligizing for it.” Kurogane let go of Fai’s face and he instantly averted his eyes down to his chest and bit his bottom lip. 

Fai didn’t know what to do—if he explained it, would Kurogane be angry with him? Was he already angry? This was all so terribly complicated and while Fai was used to complicated situations—he usually had some frame of reference to draw from and muddle his way through. 

“I uh—” Fai tried to articulate his anxiety over the whole situation—but the words died out and he was left frowning and frustrated. 

“Why would giving me a hug ruin anything?” Kurogane making the question smaller helped narrow the answer from an unintelligible storm of random racing emotions to something Faid could sort of put words to.

It still took him a minute, and he practiced what he wanted to say a few times in his head before actually speaking. “I didn’t know—if we were—like that…? If you would be ok with that…” 

Kurogane gave a thoughtful humm and when Fai didn’t continue he prompted him further. “Have I ever told you are aren't allowed to hug me?” 

“Well, no.” Not specifically anyway… just that he wasn’t really a touchy-feely kinda guys… 

So it was safe to assume that he wouldn’t like it. 

Right? 

“So, I’ve never told you not to hug me, so why couldn’t we be that way?” Kurogane pursed his lips—he wasn’t quite annoyed… Fai couldn’t put his finger on that exact expression and it was making him even more uneasy. 

Fai liked clear rules and Kurogane was just confusing him. 

Was he supposed to just figure it out through trial and error? Piss him off accidentally to find out he wasn’t supposed to do something? 

“What way?” Fai needed clarification and Kurogane’s brows furrowed and his frown deepened into a scowl at his question. 

Fai knew this look—he was confused. 

Well, at least he wasn’t alone in that respect… 

“I have no idea what way—you didn’t tell me. You just got all freaked out all of a sudden and I am trying to untangle this mind fuck you got yourself into.” Kurogane ran a hand through his hair and Fai took a few steps back and sat on the side of the bed. 

“S—”

“For fuck’s sake!” Kurogane snapped and Fai wrapped his arms around his stomach and looked down at the floor. 

Well—the hug hadn’t ruined everything, but Fai was doing a hell of a job of fucking things up, anyways. 

Kurogane was mad and he wouldn’t even let Fai apologize, and he honestly didn’t know what to do. Fai didn’t mean to make him mad or push his buttons—he just didn’t know what was a good or a bad move at this point so he just didn’t move. 

There was a long moment of silence and Fai kept his eyes focused on the carpet and listened to Kurogane carefully as he held his breath for a moment—sighed—took a few deep breaths—then sat on the bed next to him. “Look—let’s start back at the beginning.” 

“Ok.” Fai was still unsure and confused, but he would do it to make it up to Kurogane. 

Who knows—maybe they would even end up on the same page? 

“What is going on in your head? If you don’t tell me, I can’t fix it.” Kurogane prompted after another extended silence, and Fai still wasn’t sure how to articulate it in a way that his friend would understand. 

“Can I ask you a question to find out how I can explain this?” Fai looked up and Kurogane nodded. “How does Kuro want us to be?” 

“Close.” It didn’t even take a full second for Kurogane to respond. 

Not that it was a very helpful response. It was Fai’s turn to sigh in frustration and he balled his hands into tight fists and tried to think of a better way of putting it. 

Sure—Kurogane was being more articulate today than usual. Fai had never heard him speak this much, but how the hell was he supposed to know what to do, how to act or how to not make Kurogane mad with that kinda answer? 

Fai scooted closer to Kurogane so that their thighs were touching and got a curious look from him. “Close like this?” 

“That’s not what I meant—” 

“Ok.” Fai cut him off and threw a hand out behind himself for balance sake before swinging a leg up and over Kurogane’s lap and straddling his hips so that they were nose to nose. “Close like this, then?” 

Kurogane didn’t answer right away, and Fai felt his frustration growing as the seconds ticked on. How hard was it to tell him what he wanted? Fai counted to ten, then leaned forward and pressed their lips together in a searing kiss—bringing his hands up to rest on the older man’s shoulders as the blond pulled him closer. 

Fai broke the kiss almost as quickly as he had started it and all but glared at those confused red eyes that were watching him. “Close like that? How am I supposed to know? I can’t read your mind, you know.” 

The blond’s breath was coming out in quickened puffs and he felt tears starting to burn in the corner of his eyes after the silence continued to persist. He was just about to get up and leave the room when he felt hands slide up his sides, up over his chest, then his neck and finally came to cup his cheeks. 

Kurogane pulled him down for another kiss—this one slow, deep, and drawn out. His lips moving patiently against Fai’s own—tongue darting out to lap at the smaller man’s bottom lip. 

Fai gasped in surprise and it was the opening Kurogane needed to deepen the kiss—not that Fai minded. Control shifted from Fai to Kurogane—the older man showing Fai exactly how he wanted things to be between them—explaining it in a way that made more sense then any spoken language. 

Kurogane slid one of his hands down and tugged at the buttons of the blond’s shirt—popping them open with enough force that at least one button flew off and rolled across the floor, bouncing off the wall and falling flat next to the closet. 

Fai mewled into the kiss as that same hand slid over the skin of his chest, snaking its way around to his back and pulling him close enough that they were chest to chest—forcing Fai to tilt his head up to keep their lips locked. 

Kurogane broke the kiss to nibble down his jaw and Fai squirmed in his lap and panted softly as he worked his way down to his neck, then to his collarbone—

And then he stopped. 

Fai, still panting and hardly able to hold still given his level of excitement, looked down at Kurogane with confusion. 

“I don’t… What’s wrong?” 

Kurogane brought a hand up from where it had been settled on the blond’s hip and Fai felt his heart drop as he watched tanned fingers trace a love bit he had gotten form a client last night. 

Fuck. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

“I want to be close to you.” Kurogane glanced up at him and kissed that purple bruise before sighing. 

“I—I can explain.” Fai covered the mark with his palm and quickly climbed off of his friend’s lap, feeling suddenly dirtied and unattractive. “Please let me explain… Please?” 

“Look—calm your ass down.” the older man patted the mattress next to himself and Fai shook his head back and forth quickly, stepping back until his shoulder blades pressed against the icy wall, causing him to shiver almost violently. 

“No. no. no. You don’t understand—I’m not in a relationship or anything. It’s—”

“Your job, right?” Kurogane cut him off softly but didn’t make a move to come after Fai, for which the blond was grateful. 

He did however hold out the t-shirt he had fetched Fai earlier, and the younger man took it and quickly slipped it on to cover himself while he tried to think of how he wanted to respond. 

“You knew?” He knew and he had kissed him, snuggled him, hugged him, anyways? 

He wasn’t… disgusted? He wasn’t angry that Fai had kept it a secret? 

“Tomoyo mentioned somethings and I came to some conclusions based on your schedule and shit.” Kurogane snagged his own shirt and pulled it on slowly—keeping his graze down so that Fai was free to look about the room as his mind raced. 

“—and you dont… you dont care?” Fai jumped when Kurogane growled and glared at him. 

“The fuck you say?” He was on his feet before Fai could blink, but he thankfully didn’t try to get closer and corner the blond. “Of course I fucking care. Fuck, Fai—how can you think I don’t care about something like that?” 

“I…” Fai closed his eyes and leaned his weight back before sliding down the wall. He tucked his knees to his chest and covered his face with both of his hands and swallowed the panic that was rising.

It was just a misunderstanding. He just had to explain, it was a misunderstanding. 

“I mean—-I mean you don’t… hate me? Because I…” the blond let the sentence trail off and he heard Kurogane curse under his breath before he walked to the far end of the room and leaned against the wall there. 

“No. I don’t hate you because you’re a… prostitute—or an escort—or whatever the fuck you call it?” Kurogane’s voice softened—obviously uncomfortable with those labels. 

While that’s not exactly what Fai did… It was close enough. 

He sold his body and time to men who were willing to pay the right price—did it really matter how he got his clients? 

“I hate that you feel like you gotta, ya know?” Kurogane scrubbed at his face with both of his hands and muttered a few more swear words. “I get it, though. You’re doing this ‘cause you got your mom's medical bills and shit… you got your tuition and rent—I get it.” 

Fai let his hands fall away from his face and wrapped his arms around his leg. So Kurogane had known this whole time? Had he known the whole time they had been talking? 

“I uh... “ Kurogane cleared his throat and Fai watched as his expression changed from worried—to angry—to sad while he gathered his thoughts. “Look, I could get blown up or some insane shit at work any day of the week and I took this job for the exact same reasons you got yours for.” 

Fai’s brows furrowed in confusion but still remained silent—not because he had nothing to say… but because he knew that Kurogane was trying to finish his thought. 

He wasn’t a talker and it wasn't easy for him to talk like this. Over messenger, they both had time to think, react, and meter their response—not so much in real life. 

“You got those internships coming up and you’re gonna be graduating next year, right?” Kurogane finally looked at him again and Fai nodded. 

If Fai kept pace with his clientele like he was now, he would be almost outta the hole by then, too. He could put this job behind him and got back to being a normal person. 

“—I meant what I said. I want you near me.” The look on Kurogane’s face was dead serious and left nothing up to interpretation. It as obvious he wasn’t lying and Fai was almost willing to believe him. 

Almost. 

“But?” the blond’s voice came out a hoarse whisper. There was a catch—there had to be a catch. 

“I can’t be _with _you—if you’re with other people.” Fai couldn’t blame him for feeling that way… he had every right to leave given that Fai couldn’t commit. 

“I get it…” Fai let his eyes fall back down towards the carpet. 

“Oi. Don’t check out on me, blondie. I ain’t done yet.” Kurogane snapped and Fai wrapped his arms a little more tightly around himself and managed a slight nod so the older man knew he had his attention. “We got choices—but they're your choices to make, ok?” 

“Ok…” Fai heard Kurogane push off the wall and saw his feet come into view just in front of him. 

“Walk away from that shit today and we’ll move ya in here and make the money shit work. That’s the preferred way on my end—but if our positions were swapped I see why that would be pretty fucking scary.” Kurogane wiped a stray tear from Fai’s cheek that he hadn’t even realized had fallen and Fai flinched from the touch. 

“Or?” Fai loved Kurogane—more than anyone else in the entire world actually—he loved him so much it hurt. 

He didn’t want to be another burden for him… He couldn’t do that to someone he loved. 

“Or you do you. We stay like we are now. Just friends.” Relief washed over Fai and all of a sudden, it was like the floodgates were open and he had to choke back a sob. 

Kurogane wasn’t going to abandon him if he chose to keep working off his debt? He could still have his best friend? 

“Do you mean it?” Fai was terrified to ask for confirmation, but he needed to hear him say it again. “We can stay just the same?” 

Kurogane nodded and ran a hand through his hair and waited patiently for him to get his emotions under control so they could finish their discussion. It got worse before it got better and when Fai started shaking form how hard he was sobbing, Kurogane pulled him against his chest and let him cry it out. 

Kurogane wasn’t going to make him change… he accepted him just the way he was… he was still going to be his friend and all the fear, frustration and worry over having to have this talk was just washing away. 

Kurogane wasn’t going to leave him… He wasn’t going to leave Fai all alone again…

By the time Fai finally started to settle, he was both physically and mentally exhausted and they both decided to save hashing out the rules and details for tomorrow after they were both sober and rested. 

Kurogane helped Fai get changed into the pajama bottoms and a tee that wasn’t covered in tears and snot stains. He got on clean pajamas as well and they both climbed into bed. Separate pillows—separate blankets because for now—they were not like that. 


	5. Chapter 5

Fai’s life was still complicated. 

Waaaaaaay more complicated now that he had Kurogane in it. 

Not bad complicated though. Good complicated. 

It had been a little awkward at first but they had established boundaries for their friendship and with a set of rules to follow, Fai felt just as comfortable with Krugoane in person as he had during their first months of communication when they had basically acted as the other’s personal therapist.

After the first night, he had slept over at his best friend’s house—Kurogane had called in and Fai had cancelled his appointments so they could have a talk about how to proceed. 

Kurogane had a lot of stipulations for the ‘just friends’ thing and most of them, Fai thought were good ideas—some were annoying but it wasn’t forever and if it made Kuro feel better, then he was happy to do it. 

The first thing Kurogane needed from him was a complete explanation of what he actually did at work—and while it had been an incredibly awkward conversation for Fai, given how many questions Kuro had, they had both felt better after they had had it. 

Fai had had to explain some of the most uncomfortable things to talk about several times because Kurogane just didn't get it. Getting him to understand that the difference between being an escort (Fai had told him not to bring up the p-word) and what he did was how Fai got his client and how he got paid. 

Fai didn’t like being called a sugar baby—and definitely not a professional sugar baby—but that was what he was. That is what his clients called him—and that is how the relationship worked. It was not just a sex thing—Fai was at a point now that he could drop the clients that only saw him for sex and he was very upfront with any new clients about not wanted to be treated like a prostitute.

He went so far as to pull out his cell phone and show Kurogane the websites and apps he cherry picked clients from. He showed him how he vetted the creeps out and his process for first time meets so that he was as safe as possible. 

Kurogane had not liked it—the whole meeting strangers off the internet thing totally freaked him out but he had paid close attention so he knew what was what “incase Fai ever needed rescuing.” Which was sweet of him—but Fai was a pro and knew what he was doing. 

If it made him feel better, though—Fai was more than happy to explain it to him. 

The whole concept of an arrangement was also hard for Kurogane to grasp. All terms in an arrangement were totally negotiable and Fai was good at leveraging the most out of them. While what he actually did for a living was men paying for his time—he did not like the ‘pay to play’ set up so he avoided arrangements that were cash payments per every meeting. 

This put a nice distance between building a mutually beneficial relationship built on trust and respect—from what an escort did. Fai liked to avoid a transfer of cash whenever he could but it wasn’t always possible when there were nosey wives involved or similar constraints where his clients couldn’t have a paper trail. 

Fai usually had his clients take care of things like rent, tuition, or medical bills by paying them directly—which was nice when you didnt wanna feel like a hooker and more like a little poor friend who was getting a bit of help. Buuuuut it left Fai cash poor, so sometimes, he got gift cards to grocery stores or restaurants. 

Fai’s half of the arrangement was different every time and it was a delicate balancing act. A lot of babying needy clients, sending pictures or sexting, skype dates and what not were a lot to balance around school. 

Fai had to play a different roll for every client so he kept detailed notes on his phone, which he also shared with Kurogane. Fai had taken a shower while he had looked thought them and Kurogane thanked him for that act of trust—but decided after reading through a few that he was better off not knowing. 

Fai had felt pretty uncomfortable putting all that out there and explaining to someone he was romantically interested in—but Kurogane had gotten to see that there was a method to the madness and Fai was as safe as possible. That meant condoms for any sort of penetration—no exceptions—and he even went so far as to explain the regular physicals and STD tests he did to make sure everything was ok. 

That put Kurogane’s mind at ease and with a promise that Fai would answer any other questions that might come up, they had moved on to the next line of business. 

That was better communication from Fai—so if something did happen, they at least knew where to look for him. Fai had gotten into ‘trouble’ with clients in the past, but nothing past a little overzealous communication or the occasional bruise or cut. 

After the police, Kurogane was supposed to be the first person Fai called if he was ever in trouble and that was easy enough to agree to. He probably would have called Kurogane first even if it hadn’t been one of the rules, because he was really Fai’s only friend—and he was definitely the only person Fai wanted when he was afraid or upset. 

Kurogane had more little rules—the little ones were the ones Fai could take or leave—and he followed them even if they were tedious. Rules like letting Kurogane know he had made it home safe with a quick text even if it was 2-3am. Letting him know if he had a first meet and greet with a first time client… when he took on a new regular… 

That was pretty much it aside from the actual friendship rules. No kissing, no hand holding, no sleeping under the same blanket when they spent the night (on purpose, anyways, but Kurogane got snuggly is his sleep and Fai was not about to wrestle him in the middle of the night) or getting jealous and such things…. 

Fai was allowed to snuggle Kurogane as much as he wanted when they watched TV or movies. He also got to have as many hugs as he wanted/needed… Oh—and no more saying sorry for things that were not his fault or jumping to crazy conclusions. 

He had a lot less rules for Kurogane—mainly that Kurogane had to respect that Fai had clients and school that had to come first. The rules about kissing, cuddling and hugging were the same for Kurogane as for him, of course—and Fai made Kurogane promise he would stop threatening to murder the clients that accidentally left love bits or tiny bruises… 

All in all, it worked out great! 

Fai loved it. He would actually love to be able to kiss and cuddle as much as he wanted, but he got it. His friendship and emotional attachment to Kurogane was waaaaaaay more important than all the kisses in the world, after all. 

There would be time for that later on, anyways. 

Because of their schedules, Fai still didn’t get to see Kurogane often at all but they kept up with each other over messenger, which was almost better, given how hard it was for both of them to keep their hands to themselves. He was sure to keep the time Tomoyo got out of work clear so that she could come up and hang out with him at his flat if Kurogane got stuck in traffic—so he got to at least get a hug from him 2-3 times a week, even if it was just that.

Time had been flying by far too fast. 

On one hand, Fai was closer to graduation and being able to quit the sugar baby gig—and on the other hand, Kurogane was going to be heading out for another 6 months and that was… hard. Not just because it would mean that Kurogane was going to miss his graduation ceremony, either… Fai was far more worried about something happening while his best friend was away. 

Sure—he had been doing this since 18 with no help or having his scary Kuro-grumpy on call to kick some ass—but he had recently felt so much safer with him there. 

He and Tomoyo both were getting anxious about him leaving and they were both trying to cram as many memories into the short time they had left. That was hard to do given their schedules, but this weekend, the three of them were piling into the car for a road trip down to California and wouldn't be back till mid next week. 

Fai had been buzzing with excitement for over a week now, but maybe if he had been a little more on his game, he wouldn’t have fucked up. 

He didn’t break a single rule—not his own rules about safety—or any of Kurogane’s rules, either, and Fai still managed to get hurt. About a month ago, Fai had cut ties with a longtime regular after he found out they had been stalking him both online and in person. 

It happened every once in a while and he had just stayed with Kuro for a few weeks while he waited for it to blow over. He got extra time with his best friend, sure—but it really made balancing classes, work, and taking care of his mother difficult. 

Fai could walk to school from his flat, but Kurogane’s house was about an hour commute time if you took the metro, given that he had to transfer twice. 

He had been eager to get back home because of that—but he had been even more worried about replacing the income of a long time regular. Monthly allowances were not usually done right off the bat—and he was not willing to leave the time slot open and push back the date he could quit. 

Between wanting to get that spot filled, the extra commute time, finals, the stress of the whole stalking situation, worrying about Kuro leaving for 6 whole months and excitement about the trip this weekend, Fai brushed off some red flags that he normally wouldn’t have ignored. 

Granted it could have been a lot worse—he could have been kidnapped or raped—hell even murdered if he had met the right creep. None of that happened, thank god, but Fai was left injured and terrified after misunderstand exactly what this guy wanted. 

Fai could get into some light BDSM play with more focus on the BD and less on the SM. A little bit could be a fun way to mix things up with the right person—but this had not been the right person and really wasn’t even BDSM- The new client had just enjoyed hurting him... Sure, but it was not how that usually went from his experience, anyways—no sex—no safe words—no foreplay—no aftercare or communiucation at all. 

It had been kinda like getting jumped or mugged? Only that he still had his wallet after it was all said and done—as well as black and blue bruises from being choked, serious rug burns on his face, three very much broken ribs and a shattered wrist. 

Oh did he mention night terrors? Those were fun, but they didn’t start right away. 

Fai had thought for a while there that this guy might actually kill him—but he had gotten whatever he had needed outta Fai—threw the agreed upon amount of money onto the counter and dipped while Fai had still been gasping desperately for air and trying to get his bearings.

It had taken Fai close to an hour to get to his phone—most of that time spent curled up in a ball on the floor, trying to stop crying while gasping and coughing. The choking was what fucked him up the worst—the asshole had kept the pressure consistent, but not constant—so he would let Fai get a few lungfuls of air before he started up again and it had made it go on for what seemed like hours. 

The building’s security footage proved that his client hadn’t been there for more than 15 minutes from start to finish, though. 

Because he had been so rough, every time Fai tried to inhale, he would cough—the coughing lowered the amount of oxygen getting to his brain, which kept his vision dotted and his head fuzzy—it also didn’t help his broken ribs and the pain was something else...

Eventually, he managed to catch his breath and then it was just a matter of willing himself up off of the floor to retrieve his phone, which was on the edge of the bed. Fai was shaken and afraid and his fingers had found their way to Kurogane’s contact name and hit the green call icon before he even had a chance to think about calling the cops. 

Since Fai had followed Kurogane’s rules—he knew Fai was meeting a new client and Fai had filled him in on his request. He felt like an idiot for assuring that it was nothing to worry about since Fai had a another regular with similar tastes—Kurogane thankfully didn’t take too much stock in the I-got-this-I’m-a-professional, and answered on the second right. 

“You ok?” 

Fai was not, but he would live and he didn’t need Kurogane to crash his car on the way over, so he did his best to keep his voice even. “I need you to come to my place, please.” 

“I’m on my way right now, but can you tell me what happened?” Kurogane’s voice was a hell of a lot calmer than Fai would have expected. 

He had a feeling that had a lot more to do with the fact that Kurogane was in the navy and probably got training on how to keep a cool head in crisis—Fai was pretty sure that even with the loud ringing in his ears, he could hear his own voice quivering. 

“I’m—uh... “ Fai hadn’t understood why his brain was checking out on him. He needed to tell Kuro he was ok and to drive carefully. “—I’ll be ok, but I need you here.” 

“Yup. You’re gonna be ok and I am on my way right now, ok?” Kurogane still sounded stone cold calm and Fai closed his eyes and leaned back against his bed as he listened to the sound of a car door slamming shut and the car engine growling to life. “Is he still there?” 

Fai had shook his head no before remembering that Kurogane couldn’t see him and let out a few wheezing coughs before he managed to answer him. “No.” 

“Good. Can you stay on the phone, Fai? I need you to keep talking to me, ok?” that would be easier said than done but he didn’t want to be alone right now. 

Not when his vision was still wonkey and his balance was off. 

He didn’t remember much of what they talked about but Kurogane stayed calm the entire time—and it helped Fai keep it together as the adrenalin started fading and he really started feeling the pain and he started noticing how hard it was to breath. 

Kurogane made it to Fai’s flat in half the amount of time it usually took and Fai wasn’t able to keep the tears under control when he saw the look on Kurogane’s face. 

He vaguely remembered apologizing—He couldn’t remember if it was for letting this happen, for scaring Kurogane, making him leave work and drive all the back over here or for not calling 911 like an idiot—but he remembers Kurogane telling him to relax—that it was ok—he was going to be ok and he had done a good job. 

Fai also remembers Kurogane holding his hand through the entire ambulance ride—and how he had wanted to tease him for breaking his own rules, but his stomach was whoozing from the amount of pain he was in and one of the paramedics had an oxygen mask pressed to his face. 

The help breathing helped clear up some of his confusion, but he also felt a hell of a lot more and after the paramedics had gotten the basic story of what happened, they gave him some pain killers. Things we’re really fuzzy after he got to the ER—but Fai remembered Kurogane keeping constant contact with him—either by touching his hands, his legs, feet, or his face. 

Fai remembers getting frustrated at the doctors, nurses, and police asking him the same questions over and over. Did he know where he was? Did he know what had happened? Did he have any pain? Could he tell them what his attacker had done to him? Did he know who the man was? Could he describe him? 

The next thing that he really remembered clearly was waking up later that night to Kurogane speaking gruffly to one of the nurses. His ears tuned in before the rest of his senses and Fai found himself smiling as Kurogane tired to explain that—No—he and Fai were not married, engaged, or dating but if she thought he was going to leave him here alone she might as well call security because he wasn't going anywhere. 

He was not in the hospital for long—while he had been pretty banged up, his injuries were not life threatening. 

Just sore. 

Fai could see the seething anger burning behind his best friends red eyes as they waited for the doctors to check him over one more time before sending him home with some pain killers and instructions to make a follow up appointment in a few days with his primary care provider. 

Kurogane didn't bother asking if Fai wanted to stay over at his house—he got on the expressway going the opposite direction of the U-district and Fai wasn’t going to fight him on this. He wanted nothing more than to curl up with Kurogane and feel safe and he didn’t need to go back to his flat to know that his once safe haven was ruined after that little adventure. 

The car ride home was quiet—Kurogane had been quiet since he had gotten up and other than asking him how he was feeling, his best friend just quietly held his uninjured hand in a tight grip as though he were afraid Fai might be taken from him. 

It was the same deal when they got to the house. Tomoyo didn’t seem to be home—and given the lateness of the hour, he assumed she was staying over at Sakura’s for the night. Kurogane had an arm carefully wrapped around his waist and was helping him walk even though other than skinned knees, his legs were fine. 

They went straight back to Kurogane’s room and Fai just went where he was gently guided. 

What was he gonna say? 

If he said sorry for all of this, Kurogane was probably going to finish his client’s murder for him, he was sure. He didn’t feel like complaining and he didn’t think Kurogane would be very receptive to a ‘Thank you’ at the moment. 

He wanted to really thank him when the man’s nerves had settled. 

Either Kurogane was too overwhelmed to say anything at the moment or Fai had one hell of a lecture on the way when Kurogane deemed him ready to receive it. 

Kurogane helped Fai sit on the side of the bed and got some of his oversized clothes for him to wear. Between the broken ribs and casted arm, Fai really couldn’t do the bending required to change his pants—and he needed help with the shirt, as well, since his wrist was in a sling to keep him from trying to use his fingers. 

Where as until now, Fai was always careful to change in a separate space from Kurogane after that first night, he currently gave zero shits about his friend seeing him mostly naked. 

Not that he had been self conscious about his body itself—but he didn’t like flaunting the love bites and other perks in front of him when he knew Kurogane had a jealous streak. He had so many ugly bruises right now that he couldn’t tell any love bites there might have been from the angry bruises that were a result of the attack. 

In the hospital check out process, the nurses had helped Fai dress while Kurogane had pulled the car up for them. This was the first time he was getting a good look at the marks and Fai was sure he could see Kurogane plotting a very brutal, slow and painful death for his attacker. 

It was over now—Fai would probably never see that man again and he didn’t want Kurogane wasting his energy on things like that. Not when they had so little time left before he was going to be gone for half a year. 

“Hm, Kuro?” Fai’s voice was hoarse and quiet—the doctors had told him it might take a week or more for him to get his voice back. Longer, if there was real damage to his voice box—but Fai was going to be hopeful and assume it to be sooner rather than later. 

“Yeah?” Red eyes glanced at him momentarily before refocusing down at the ugly marks. 

“You’re scaring me with that look. What’s going on?” Kurogane sighed and helped him pull the shirt over his head and carefully pulled it down to cover his torso. 

“You coulda died.” Fai was trying hard not to think too much about that. That fact was not gonna help him feel any better. 

“So why the murder eyes?” Fai watched Kurgane pop the button zipper combo after kneeling down in front of him and this was not exactly how he pictured the first time Kurogane getting him outta his trousers would go—but Fai was still happy for the help. 

“‘Cause someone tried to take you away from me permanently and I let you walk into that situation.” The older man tugged the fabric down and Fai stepped out of them—using his good hand to hold onto Kuro’s shoulder for balance. 

“Who is being an idiot now?” Fai tapped his nose and Kurogane just reacted by turning his head away and snagging the clean pajama bottoms. “If it’s anyone's fault, it’s mine—but most likely it’s neither of our faults, you know.” 

He carefully helped him into the soft pants as well but didn’t respond. Once he was dressed, the older man pulled back the covers and with a little fengagalin and a few pained whines, Fai was settled right smack dab in the middle of the bed. 

He didn’t have to ask Kurogane to join him. He crawled under the covers and snuggled up right next to Fai without any prompting, being extra mindful of his sore spots and the blond started running his hand through his friend's hair. 

“I think… I’m hanging up my sugar baby hat early…” Fai offered after an impossibly long silence and he heard Kurogane sigh in relief. 

“Thank you.” The older man drew in a shaky breath but the slight quiver in his voice was something Fai couldn’t unhear. “Fuck.You scared me.” 

“I know… I’m s—” he cut himself off and started over. “I didn’t mean to.” 

“Duh—why would you do that on purpose, idiot.” Kurogane snorted and Fai chuckled—instantly regretting it when his ribs ached. 

They stayed curled up like that for a while, just sitting together in silence. Fai didn’t want to say that he was glad he was the one who had gotten hurt and not Kurogane—He might be black and blue—but that was nothing compared to the shit he had just put poor Kuro through. 

He would take a beating over losing—or even thinking he might lose someone as important to him—as his Kuro.

“Do you think Tomo will hook me up with a job at the cafe?” Fai joked when he got sick of the silence and Kurogane shrugged. 

“"Sure, I guess. That kid is scary social." Fai smiled softly at that and broke the rules by kissing the top of Kurogane’s head. 

He couldn’t live on a job as a barista—but something was better than nothing and he was so close to graduation… 

He could probably get some sympathy points from his clients to create a bit of a buffer to help ease the transition, but after seeing how he had affected Kurogane, he couldn’t send him off on that submarine to worry about if he would have someone to return home to at the end of the 6 months. 

That was insanely cruel. 

“I know you hate it when I say sorry for things… but do you think I can do it?” Fai went to kiss the top of his head again and Kurogane carefully craned his neck and managed to plant one right on Fai’s lips. 

“You can do it. Like I said-_we_’ll make it work.” Fai have him the same look he had when he had offered to help Fai the last time. 

Fai was pretty sure he could trust him… 

Kurogane was sometimes hard for him to read—but there was no denying that he was in love with Fai as much as the blond was in love with him. 

Even an idiot could see that now. 

“I don’t want to be a burden, though... “ Even with graduation so close, even with an internship lined up, there was no telling when or if Fai would be back up to his same earning potential… 

Granted—most of the debt was paid off and Kurogane had already really stepped up when it came to helping with his mother… 

He really could make this work… with the buffer… and with Kurogane. 

“You can earn your keep by watching out for my baby sis while I’m away.” Kurogane shifted up so he could kiss Fai again—this time more sweetly. “She likes hanging out with Sakura—but she gets real homesick when she’s over there. With you here, it’ll be easier on her—and she will keep your nose outta trouble, too.” 

“Did… did you just inform me that I am moving in with you?” Fai squinted at Kurogane who just nodded and settled his head back down. 

“What of it?” 

“...Do I get to bring my glittery wallpaper with me?” 


	6. Chapter 6

“I have a Vanilla Bean iced Latte for—-” Fai squinted at his shitty handwriting and silently cursed himself for not writing more legibly . “—I am going to say um… Harry?” 

“Mary?” A woman in a pair of leggings, an oversized sweater, and hipster glasses snapped at him and Fai pulled on a beaming smile. 

“Why not? Here you go! Please enjoy and come again!” Fai handed the coffee over and looked at the next order ticket just as Tomoyo came back out of the back. 

If you had asked him a year and a half ago if he would ever see himself working two jobs—busting his ass at a 9-5 as a pharmaceutical scientist—only to head to his second job where his manager was none other than his boyfriends kid sister?

Well Fai probably would have looked at you like you were possessed before running off to meet one of his swanky ex-clients.

His life has always been a bit of a complicated hot mess though—so what could he do?

The things you do for love, right? 

Speaking of love—both Fai and his manager were waiting for the love of Fai’s life—aka Kuro—to get back from his 6 months working on shore.

While he knew he was supposed to be back sometime this week, Kurogane kept claiming that ‘he didn't know when exactly’ 

Fai called bullshit and he was putting his bet on sometime this afternoon given how bubbly Tomo was—not to mention the fact that she was looking out the front windows every two seconds. 

It had been really hard letting him go just over 6 months ago—he hadn’t even healed from his injuries fully and there had been a lot of things that were uncertain. They had buckled down and like Kurogane had promised—they had made it work. 

It hadn’t been easy—not finishing school, not starting his internship or turning that unpaid position into a decent salary, not going back to a long distance relationship or dealing with the night terrors and panic attacks that had hit him after the attack. 

But they were slowly but surely figuring it out. 

Fai smiled at the next gal in line and scribbled the name down on her cup before pushing it—as well as the drink ticket down the line and moving on to the next one. 

Fai was in the middle of muddling his way through the evening rush—all the people on afternoon shift and students getting out of classes like to hit them right around 9 pm—when he heard the distinct sound of the bell on the door ringing signaling that someone had just entered. 

Fai called out a friendly greeting to avoid the wrath of his manager/adopted baby sister—but didn't have a chance to loop up from the design he was attempting to draw with chocolate syrup. 

If not for the squeak from Tomoyo, Fai probably wouldn’t have called his chocolate kittie picture good enough because she was missing half her whiskers—but either someone had just walked in to rob the place or it was someone sh—

“Kuro!!!”

His lover was watching him with the softest of smiles and Fai all but jumped over the table to get to him. Thankfully one of the other employees took over for him—Tomoyo probably knew he was going to be less than useless when her brother turned up. 

The blond launched himself into his lover’s arms and would have savoured the fairytale spin-a-round they did a little bit more if Kurogane didn’t let out a very obvious pained grunt. 

To give him credit, Kurogane’s face was as straight as an arrow when he set Fai back on his feet and leaned down to capture his lips for a quick, but sweet kiss. 

“What was that about?” Fai gave him a skeptical look and Kurogane shrugged. 

“Donno what yer talking about.” Kurogane kissed him again and although Fai wanted nothing more than to stay close and soak up all the attention he could get, he stepped back and put his hands on his hips.

“Kuro… I know you wouldn’t lie to me after not seeing me for 6 whole months.” Fai could see Tomoyo snickering out of the corner of his eyes and relaxed a bit. 

She was in on this, obviously. 

“It’s not a lie. I’m healthy as a horse.” Kurogane took a step closer to Fai and tired to wrap him back up in another hug. 

Kurogane might call him an idiot, but Fai was officially a scientist—which meant he had no issue doing a little experiment to find out what the older man was trying to hide. 

Fai let Kurogane do as he pleased and as soon as he was pressed against him, he pulled one of his arms in and started to press around against his chest. For all he knew, it was just a sunburn—but if was really no big deal, then Kurogane could tell—no point in acting all tough if he was uncomfortable. 

The blond pressed his fingers around and Kurogane have him a warning look as he poked away at random places. “What are you doing?” 

“Nothing.” Fai pressed against Kuro’s left pec and watched him bite the inside of his cheek but otherwise maintain a straight expression. There was something under the uniform there… something thin, but still noticeable. “What’s that?” 

He jabbed again and Kurogane batted his hand away. 

“Stop that.” 

“Why does that hurt?” Kurogane sighed at Fai’s worried expression and looked about the small coffee shop. “What’s wrong, Kuro?” 

Fai’s worry only increased when Kurogane didn’t answer him and instead eyed the door to the small back store room. “Follow me.” 

The blond followed only because customers were starting to stare—and after Kurogane pulled the door closed behind them, Fai dropped the happy worker act and pouted at the spot he knew was sore. 

“Oi. Stop that scowling” Kurogane raised his hands up and started popping buttons on his uniform. 

Fai watched that spot closely—and when he shrugged his left arm out of his uniform shirt, Fai could see the corners of a bandage peeking out from behind the tank top. 

“You’re hurt!” Fai felt his heart fall, but Kurogane only rolled his eyes and started pulling the tank top up and off over his head and Fai got to see just how BIG the bandage was. Not only did it cover his entire pec but it extended down his side—stretched across his sternum—and even over a portion of his abs. 

“‘T doesn’t hurt unless you poke it, you idiot.” the older man handed over the tanktop and Fai hugged it to his chest and watched as his lover picked at the taped edge of one of the corners of the bandage. 

Only after he started peeling it away and Fai saw brightly colored, if not slightly irritated skin underneath, did it click. 

A new tattoo? 

Kurogane hadn’t mentioned anything about wanting another one… Not that he minded—Fai thought the beautiful and sentimental art that Kurogane decorated his body with was sexy. 

When he finished peeling the bandage away, he let his hand fall so that Fai could admire the new ink. 

“Why a phoenix?” The stunning red and yellow bird stood out beautifully against his tanned skin—striking blue eyes drawing your attention in right away. 

Wow. 

This one might just be Fai’s new favorite. 

“I wanted something that represented you—something as fiery and beautiful as you—and just as resilient and strong.” Kurogane reached out a hand to cup Fai’s cheek and the blond felt his breath hitch. 

“Kuro…” His lover was smiling softly again and Fai had to flutter his eyes as he felt tears starting to form. 

That gorgeous masterpiece… it was for him? 

Kurogane had chosen it because for him, it embodied Fai? And had slapped it loud and proud on his chest alongside the tattoos that served as memorials to his parents? 

That was… 

Wow. 

Kurogane swiped away the younger man’s tears and gave a thoughtful humm as he let him gather his thoughts. 

“I—I never expected… this kind of—” Fai wasn’t sure how to explain what he was feeling. 

This was such… such an honor and show of love. 

“You know that since I got this I’m never letting you go, right?” the older man stated and leaned down to kiss Fai’s forehead. 

Good. Fai never wanted Kurogane to let him go—and he sure as heck wasn’t letting him get away, either. 

“Deal—” Fai snuffed his nose and wiped at his eyes with the back of his hands. “—on one condition, though.” 

Kurogane raised an eyebrow at him in as silent inquiry and Fai slapped on a confident smirk. “You have to hold my hand when I get one.” 

“You want a tattoo now, too?” Fai nodded and Kurogane gave a wolfish grin at those news. 

It went without saying that Fai would get one to match Kurogane’s. Maybe not one on his chest… but Fai could see himself rocking a sexy back tat pretty easily. 

“Deal.” 


End file.
